Qatar Investment Authority in talks to buy stake in Mumbai Airport: Report

MIAL (Representative Image)

Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is looking to purchase a minority stake in Mumbai International Airport Ltd, which was acquired by Adani Airport Holdings Ltd in August.

Adani Airport, a unit of Adani Enterprises Ltd, is planning to raise $750 million from the stake sale, LiveMint reported, quoting sources.

QIA is likely to invest directly in the Mumbai airport operator. However, it may also buy a stake in parent Adani Airport, sources told the newspaper.

Emails sent to the Adani group and Qatar Investment remained unanswered, the report said.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.

Qatar Investment Authority is already an investor in Adani Mumbai Electricity Ltd. Adani Transmission in February said that it sold 25.1 percent stake in its arm Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd (AEML) to Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) for approximately Rs 3,220 crore.

On August 31, the Ahmedabad-based entrepreneur's Adani Airport Holdings (AAHL) announced it will acquire a controlling interest in MIAL, and also take on the debt of GVK Airport Developers.

Adani Airport agreed to take on GVK Airport Developers Limited’s debt, and also acquire Bidvest and Airports Company of South Africa’s stakes in MIAL for the controlling interest.

Along with Mumbai, the Adani Airport has also won concession agreements for six other airports—Jaipur, Guwahati, Ahmedabad, Mangaluru, Lucknow and Thiruvananthapuram.

Together, these airports handled nearly 80 million passengers in the financial year 2020, nearly a quarter of the country's total traffic of 341 million.