GMR Airport Raises Rs 3,215 Crore To Develop Bhogapuram International Airport

A day after GQG Partners acquired a 4.7% stake in GMR Airport Infrastructre Ltd. in a bulk deal, a subsidiary of the company raised Rs 3,215 to partially finance the phase-I development of Bhogapuram International Airport.

GMR Visakhapatnam International Airport Ltd., a subsidiary of GMR Airport, has executed a financing agreement for an amount of Rs 3,215 crore with a consortium of five banks/financial institutions, led by India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd., the company said in an exchange filing. The debt will have a tenure of 18 years, which will comprise three years of construction, one year of stabilisation, and 14 years of structured repayments.

"With the execution of these financing agreements, GVIAL has tied up the necessary debt to fund this project," the company announced.

The project of the airport that would cater to six million passengers annually would cost Rs 4,727 crore, with Andhra Pradesh Airport Development Corporation Ltd. reimbursing Rs 134.55 crore as part of the concession. Equity, compulsory convertible debentures, or sub-qdebt will raise the remaining amount.

On Friday, Rajiv Jain-backed GQG Partners, in a bulk deal through two funds, bought a 4.7% stake or 28.28 crore shares for Rs 1,671 crore. This comes as ASN Investments Ltd. has exited GMR Airports by offloading its entire 7.27% stake. Varanium India Opportunity Ltd. also divested its entire 2.3% shareholding for Rs 812.7 crore.

The shares of GMR Airports closed on Friday at Rs 68.90 apiece, a rise of as much as 11.67%. This compares to a 0.33% advance in the NSE Nifty 50 Index.