Fight for Mumbai airport is cattle class affair

GVK Power & Infrastructure

02/09/2020 04:18

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist.  The opinions
expressed are her own.)
    By Una Galani
    MUMBAI, Sept 2 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Tycoon Gautam Adani
is taking over India’s second busiest airport. It tramples over
a stalled $1 bln deal the seller had with Abu Dhabi’s Adia and
Canada’s PSP. By acquiring debt, Adani is offering a quick out
for lenders including Goldman Sachs. But it sets a worrying
precedent.
    Full view will be published shortly.
    On Twitter https://twitter.com/ugalani
    
    CONTEXT NEWS
    - Adani Enterprises said on Aug. 31 that one of its units
had entered into an agreement with GVK Group to take control of
Mumbai Airport, India’s second busiest.
    - GVK Group, through a company called GVK ADL, owns a 50.5%
stake in Mumbai International Airport Limited.
    - As part of the deal, Adani will acquire the debt from
various GVK lenders, including a consortium led by Goldman
Sachs, and convert the acquired debt into equity on mutually
agreed terms, GVK said in a separate statement without providing
further details.
    - GVK also said it had terminated a deal with the Abu Dhabi
Investment Authority, Canada’s PSP, and India’s National
Investment & Infrastructure Fund. The investor group had
announced a definitive agreement in October 2019 to pay 76.1
billion rupees ($1 billion) for a 79.1% stake in the holding
company of Mumbai International Airport Limited.
    - The seller, GVK, said it agreed to “cooperate with Adani”
because it needed to bring in a “financially strong investor in
the shortest possible time”.
    - For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can
click on  GALANI/   
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    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Adani arm eyes controlling interest in Mumbai airport   
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2FX1ZZ
BREAKINGVIEWS - Total’s Indian deal offers only a soft premium  
  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N26Z21M
Adani press release     https://www.bseindia.com/xml-data/corpfiling/AttachLive/6bf89266-541b-4f4a-b88f-19ec6219be3c.pdf?enowpopup
GVK press release     https://www.bseindia.com/xml-data/corpfiling/AttachLive/cd2365b2-5582-4947-9a30-220465f142b0.pdf
GVK-Adia deal     https://www.gvk.com/files/announcementtickerpdf/For_Investor_Tab_GVKPILPressrelease27102019.pdf
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
 (Editing by Robyn Mak and Sharon Lam)
 ((una.galani@thomsonreuters.com;  Reuters Messaging:
una.galani.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))