Istanbul airport stake sale not concluded, says GMR Infra

GMR Infrastructure Ltd has said that it is yet to conclude the sale of its holdings in Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen airport which “is in progress”. 

GMR Infra was responding to media reports which had appeared on Friday stating that the stake sale has been concluded for 220 million euros or around Rs 1,900 crore. The company said that the ‘Right of First Refusal’ (ROFR) process in respect of the sale of stake is currently underway and nothing has been concluded yet. 

The GMR Group company is said to be looking at selling a 40 per cent stake in the airport, which the company has said turned PAT positive in the quarter to September 30.Malaysia Airports Holdings and TAV Havalimanlari are understood to be in separate talks with GMR to buy its 40 per cent in the Sabiha Gokcen International Airport. 

Malaysia Airports currently holds 20 per cent in the airport, while Turkish firm Limak Holding and GMR own 40 per cent each. GMR had acquired the operating rights to the airport for 22 years for a licensing fee of 2.17 billion euros in 2007.

According to company data, overall passenger growth at the airport was 24 per cent on a  year-on-year basis, with 29 per cent growth coming from the international segment.The decision is part of the Indian company’s efforts to raise money to pare its debt of Rs 38,019 crore. Istanbul connects Asia and Europe and has two big airports – Sabiha Gokcen on the Asian side and TAV Istanbul Ataturk Airport on the European side.