Fairfax CEO meets Tamil Nadu CM Stalin, discusses Chennai and Hosur airports

Chennai: Fairfax Financial Holdings, the majority stakeholder of Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL), has shown interest in two airport projects that the Tamil Nadu government plans to build in Chennai and Hosur.

Prem Watsa, Chairman and CEO of Fairfax Financial Holdings, discussed the company’s potential investment opportunities in Tamil Nadu with Chief Minister M K Stalin during a 45-minute meeting on Monday in the presence of the state’s Information Technology Minister, P T R Palanivel Thiaga Rajan.

Watsa, an Indian Canadian billionaire businessman who is on a visit to India, was accompanied by Sumit Maheshwari, managing director and CEO, Fairbridge Capital, Ajit Isaac, chairperson, Quess Corp, and Hari Marar, managing director and CEO, BIAL, during the meeting with Stalin.

“They (the Chief Minister and Watsa’s delegation) discussed various potential investment opportunities in Tamil Nadu, including Chennai and Hosur Airports. As the majority owners of the world-class airport in Bengaluru, they are keen to leverage their expertise to develop such facilities in Tamil Nadu also,” Thiaga Rajan said.

Sources told DH that Watsa spoke in detail about the vast portfolio of his company and delved into his businesses in India. “Hosur and Chennai airports did come up for discussion during the meeting, which has opened the path for numerous possibilities for Fairfax in Tamil Nadu,” a source in the know told DH.

Rajan also hosted lunch for Watsa (the two have known each other for years) and his delegation at his residence after the meeting.

The meeting assumes significance with the Tamil Nadu government set to decide the location for Hosur airport and planning to float bids for choosing a concessionaire to build the greenfield facility for Chennai being planned in Parandur in an area of about 5,000 acres in Kanchipuram district.

As far as the Hosur airport is concerned, Stalin will soon hold a meeting with top officials to decide the location from the two shortlisted sites that were studied in detail by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Villages close to the private airport owned by Taneja Aviation and Aerospace Limited (TAAL) in Belagondapalli, and another land parcel located near the highway connecting Chennai with Bengaluru are contenders for the project. Industry associations in Hosur have been rooting for Belagondapalli since it is located in the plains and is in proximity to several roads that connect the Tamil Nadu town with Bengaluru.

Tamil Nadu needs a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from BIAL due to the concessionaire agreement signed between the airport operator and the Union Government mandated that no such facility should come up within 150 km till 2033.

The state government was in touch with BIAL when it was considering launching operations from within the TAAL airport in Belagondapalli. One plan was to allow BIAL to run the Hosur terminal as well, but the DMK dispensation decided to go for a new airport in June 2024 following which five locations were studied and two were shortlisted.