GVK to finalise stake sale in airport vertical in 3-4 months

Hyderabad-based Infrastructure Group GVK on Friday said it is hopeful of finalising a stake sale in its airport vertical in another three to four months. The partial dilution of stake will help the company shave off Rs 2,500 crore of non-operational debt that it has under this business vertical.

"In the next few months we will show some results as we have been in talk with several investors. Now with these two terminals (Mumbai and Bangalore) opening, we have got lot of interest from investors. We are looking to get the process concluded,"  Sanjay Reddy, Managing Director, Mumbai International Airport told Business Today on the sidelines of the inauguration of the swanky T2 at Mumbai airport that was inaugurated by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday.

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He declined to divulge any details of these investors. GVK was earlier in talks with Singapore's Changi Airport for a stake sale that did not materlise then.

Reddy said he will also be looking at bidding for the Navi Mumbai airport along with six other domestic airports like Jaipur, Lucknow and others when bids are invited for them.

The space-constrained Mumbai airport will work on a different strategy from the Delhi airport which is to make the airport a preferred choice for international passengers to travel through. "Mumbai airport cannot be a hub," he said, adding that there is no dominant airline that has made Mumbai airport its base.

Describing Mumbai airport as a dream project, Reddy said GVK will first look at stabilising the airport. It will take another six months to a year to achieve what they want to achieve in service standards for the airport, he said.