Macquarie SBI Infra invests $200 mn in GMR Airports

BANGALORE: GMR Infrastructure on Thursday said Macquarie SBI Infrastructure Investments has invested 893 crore or $200 million in its wholly-owned subsidiary GMR Airports Holding, which runs the Delhi and Hyderabad airports.

The investment was made through compulsorily convertible preference shares, GMR Infrastructure said in a statement to Bombay Stock Exchange , without divulging details. The shares could be converted into equity at a later date.

On February 11, the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) had approved GMR's proposal to raise money from SBI-Macquarie and other funds, ET had earlier reported.

A Subba Rao, chief financial officer, GMR Group had told ET that any fund the airport arm raises may be used for acquisitions and new projects, not for existing portfolio. GMR's airport business, which includes the Hyderabad and Delhi airports, accounts for 45% of the group's revenues.

The investment in the airport division comes after GMR raised money for its power division from private equity investors such as Temasek Holdings Advisors India Pvt Ltd, IDFC Private Equity Co Ltd, UTI Ventures, and Arganaut Ventures.

This is the third private equity investment in the infrastructure sector being announced this week. 3i Group Plc, made two investments this week, $111 million in KMC Infratrech Ltd and $45 million Ind-Bharath Energy Ltd.

Macquarie SBI Infrastructure Management Limited is the manager of the Macquarie SBI Infrastructure Fund (MSIF), which provides institutional and other large-scale investors located outside India access to the growing number of investment opportunities available to the private sector in India's infrastructure and infrastructure-like assets.

GMR Group is a Bangalore-headquartered global infrastructure major with interests in airports, energy, highways, and urban infrastructure. The company's stock closed up by 4.36% at 40.70 on BSE on Thursday.

Source: EconomicTimes