Turkey ownership limited, we are a global firm: Celebi India CEO

Celebi Aviation, a Turkish ground-handling company operating in India, is a fodder for gossip and prying eyes, because of New Delhi’s strained relationship with Turkey. CEO Murali Ramachandran is prepared to answer questions on this intriguing topic.

After rephrasing the question on the parent company being from Turkey, saying, “Our parent has its head office in Turkey,” Ramachandran says: “The business is majority owned by private equity now. It is more than 65 percent owned by large shareholders who are outside Turkey.” Excerpts:

Is Celebi interested in the ground-handling arm of Air India, which the government is looking to divest?

We have been pretty keenly waiting for the re-release of the PIM. We were one of the first ones to express an interest in it. But quite a bit of time has passed and one has not heard anything as to what really is going to happen. The wait was because of the focus being on the Air India sale and that happened on 27th (January). We have been waiting eagerly since then for the revised PIM to come out with changed terms and conditions, and with other parameters.

We have been preparing ourselves internally in terms of the big preparations and evaluating the business cases. We are mature in terms of our preparation and we remain keen, but the only concern is, as time keeps progressing, one becomes sceptical as to whether this will happen or not.

To be honest, we have no update but we are interested in evaluating their assets, the value they can bring us and then invest in them.

What kind of preparations are being done, and what kind of benefits do you see?

We have had a release of the PIM in the past. We have limited information from that. We have our own business development groundwork that we do with reference to what kind of business Air India is handling currently.

We clearly understand that Air India is currently operating as a monopoly at most of the AAI (Airports Authority of India) airports, because some of the tender appointees haven't really started operations, or in some airports, a new ground handler has not been appointed as yet.

It remains the only ground handler at these airports. We take that with a pinch of salt, because we know that's not the realistic situation in terms of the market share the ground handler can get.

And, if an airport, typically like Chennai or Kolkata, should have three handlers, we assume a business case as to what kind of value each of these will bring us. We make our own assumptions. We are getting our own finances in place. We are getting our own shareholders to work on the business cases to be able to understand what really is the value of the business so that we are a little ahead of the curve.  We are very keen because this gives us an auto expansion into many of the airports in India, thus giving us the scale we need.

Your parent is from Turkey, a country with which India has strained relations. How has that impacted your growth prospects in the Indian market?

I will rephrase that. Our parent has its head office in Turkey. That's where the Celebi business has its genesis. That's where the promoter has built the business. But the business is majority owned by private equity now. The majority shareholder of Celebi is a private equity company with investment funds which are predominantly blue-chip Canadian, American, Singapore, and UAE investment vehicles.

It is more than 65 percent-owned by large shareholders who are outside Turkey. The Turkey ownership is very limited, but we just happen to have our head office out of Turkey, so I wouldn't call that a Turkish parent.

When there was a bit of a stress between India and Turkey, there was this implied indication, like ‘listen, there is this Turkish company called Celebi?’  Our head office is out of Turkey but we are a global company. We are all across; our team is all managed by Indians. I'm heading the business as an Indian.

The private equity firm is not Turkey-based?

It is based outside Turkey. It has an office in Turkey but the funds are based outside Turkey.  And investments are also coming from outside. Our people come from outside Turkey — Canadians, Americans, Western European investors, and some from the Middle East. It is like a typical private equity, like Swissport. It is also private equity owned.

You can't give it a country's colour or flag. We don't really wrap ourselves in a flag. We are a global company. And we are here to add value to the ground-handling and cargo-warehousing ecosystem. I think the government also understands that very clearly. We are actively engaged with the government and we are very open and in dialogue with the government to take mitigating actions to give the comfort that the government may need.

You have not faced any problem in the imports of equipment or anything else because of this perception?

Nothing. We are the largest cargo-providing company in the country today. We have been doing pretty well on the cargo business. Delhi is the largest gateway port. We are the largest handler here. Delhi handles close to 25 percent of the cargo. We are the largest shareholder with cargo handling. There has been no impact on our business, per se.  We are probably the largest in the country, with presence in seven airports.

We have been awarded the Ahmedabad airport, along with another handler, and we will be starting by September/October. We have also been awarded the Mopa airport (Goa) and we will be starting operations there, hopefully, in September again. We are chasing other opportunities that may come in the AAI’s domain.

Any meaningful opportunity that comes up, like Chennai or Kolkata, we are actively looking for those as well. We are looking at bidding for the new Noida airport when those tenders start. One of them is happening right now.

Will you look at India as a base for bidding for airports in the Southeast Asian and South Asian regions?

We are looking at opportunities for anything that comes up in any South Asian country, or the SAARC region. We continue to keep our ears and eyes open for any inorganic or organic option that may come up.