Indian conglomerate GMR Infrastructure is examining a spin-off of its airports unit, despite its three major operations reporting mixed results for the quarter ended December 2018.
The company disclosed in a 14 February stock exchange statement that it had "received multiple proposals from the investors for the airport business which are currently being evaluated" by a board committee that is expected to soon make a recommendation on a demerger of the unit.
GMR says that spinning-off the uint would allow it to reduce its debt, and give the business access to more capital to phase its next phase of growth.
It adds that this may be key for the business due to New Delhi's "stated intent of faster privatisation of airports in the country which is $100 billion investment opportunity".
Last October it was awarded a 30 year concession to operate Nagpur airport. GMR adds that it is also exploring opportunities to operate airports at Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangaluru, which the government has approved for privatisation.
At the same time, GMR disclosed that its main airport investment, Delhi Indira Gandhi International airport, reported a cash profit of Rs1.56 billion ($23.4 million) for the third fiscal quarter, down 18% from previous corresponding period.
Meanwhile, Hyderabad Rajiv Gandhi International airport's profit was flat at Rs2.16 billion, and Mactan-Cebu International airport's result fell by Rs100 million to Rs430 million for the quarter.
No other financial details for the airports were provided by the company.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
