TPG Cap, others eye Mumbai airport, line up to buy GVK stake

US buyouts firm TPG Capital, Singapore sovereign fund Temasek, Canada’s CPP Investment Board and Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Financial Holdings are in the race to acquire as much as 49 percent in Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) from the GVK group, The Economic Times reported Friday.

A possible deal will value MIAL, which manages Mumbai airport, at Rs 12,500-15,000 crore, multiple sources close to the negotiations told the newspaper. They said the deal would be similar to the one where GVK sold 33 percent in Bengaluru airport to Fairfax for Rs 2,200 crore.

While a stake in MIAL would give investors a piece of the nation’s fast-growing civil aviation market, the deal could see a near-exit of GVK which owns 50.5 percent stake in MIAL from the operator of Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport.