GMR Infra sells entire 40% stake in Istanbul airport

A: The deal has not been concluded. We have just informed the stock exchanges that we are in the RoFR process and the next step where the Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) has exercised its RoFR notice has been done and we are evaluating the exercise of the RoFR. There are a lot of procedures to be completed for this process. So, I will not be able to comment on the completion or otherwise of this process. It will take some time for us to complete this process.

Q: If you were to go ahead with this deal, if the Malaysia Airports Holdings were to exercise its RoFR etc would you use all of the proceeds to pair down debt, that is the big question? Also are you still in the running for the Philippines Airport?

A: Yes obviously this amount as and when the sale is completed will be used substantially to reduce our corporate debt and also to use the money for the purpose of equity funding of some of our energy projects.

As far as Philippines Airport goes, we can only tell you that whatever we have heard from the public knowledge that we have been declared as the highest bidder. So, we are expecting the award letter anytime this week. Once it is there then we can formally stake a claim on that.

Q: You said that you are still in the RoFR process. How long do you expect before the deal is complete and also earlier you had said that you were looking at a portfolio strategy, not selling stake. So, what changed, is it because of the valuations?

A: Not exactly. This is in consistency with the portfolio strategy. What exactly we mean by portfolio strategy is that when the equity market is not available I can monetize my assets by two or three varieties, by bringing in private equity partners or by going for listing on the stock exchange or by doing an asset sale.

Today the markets are not conducive for equity market. Private equity partners are demanding their pound of flesh. Obviously the way open for GMR company is to go for an asset sale, that is exactly what we have been doing.

Q: As far as the Male Airport goes we understand you have expressed some willingness to return back to the project after the recent elections, is that true? Could you confirm that for us and if so what is the road ahead?

A: We will be interested in having the airport back. Basically we would like to prove ourselves that it was one of the very unlawful termination of our contract. We had a very valid concession awarded to us by the Maldives government. So, we would like to prove that our concession was valid. So, we will be very keen to have it back. As you know the arbitration process is on and we are processing both the methodologies, whatever the government of Maldives chooses and also the arbitration proceedings we will get abided by that.

Q: If I may say so, GMRs global presence in a sense has been veining if you look at exit from Singapore, exit from InterGen, are you perhaps also looking at monetising the assets that you have in Indonesia? Also recently we heard reports about how Laxmi Mittal may actually pick up a stake in Delhi Daredevils, if you can comment on that as well?

A: I will not be able to comment on the rumors. We are looking at a variety of portfolio adjustments and it will include a variety of assets at our disposal. However this does not mean that we are exiting international or anything. We are already in the race for Philippines Airport. What is important is we will have to balance growth as well as our operationalisation of assets. So, whatever is required to this we will continue to adopt that policy.