GMR Airports (GAL) and NIIF (National Investment and Infrastructure Fund) have formed a financial alliance to invest in the equity capital of three greenfield international airports in India.
These include the airports of Mopa in the Indian state of Goa and Bhogapuram in the Andhra Pradesh state.
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NIIF is spending Rs6.3bn ($76.5m) in GMR Goa International Airport (GGIAL), which marks the fund’s first direct investment in Goa and its first investment in an airport asset in the country.
GGIAL is the special purpose vehicle (SPV) that will run the new Mopa airport in Goa, which is projected to have an ultimate annual passenger handling capacity of up to 40 million.
This investment will be made in the form of a Compulsory Convertible Debenture (CCD), with the transaction awaiting relevant approvals.
The airport has secured the aerodrome licence and will be part of India’s first dual-airport system in India alongside Dabolim airport.
NIIF master fund managing partner Vinod Giri said: “NIIF believes that Mopa international airport will boost air connectivity to the state and provide strong tailwinds to the tourism-linked economy of Goa. NIIF’s investment in Mopa airport shall be the Master Fund’s sixth investment and is a testament to our commitment to partner alongside reputed infrastructure developers, state governments and key stakeholders to fast-track the execution of the Government of India’s ambitious National Infrastructure Pipeline.”
A GMR Airports Infrastructure subsidiary, GAL is the largest private sector airport operator in Asia and has Groupe ADP as its strategic partner.
At present, it operates Hyderabad, Delhi (DEL) and Bidar airports (IXX) in India, in addition to Mactan Cebu Airport (CEB) in the Philippines and Indonesia’s Kualanamu Airport (KNO).
