GVK, RIL may link up for Navi Mumbai airport

New Delhi: A strategic alliance may be in the works between the Reliance group and the GVK group for the proposed Navi Mumbai airport. Various options, including Reliance group picking up a possible stake in MIAL — the Mumbai airport operator — or the GVK Group first increasing its stake in MIAL and then diluting in favour of Reliance group, or associate company or fund are being considered.
Sources said exploratory talks are on — though at informal levels — with the preliminary understanding that Reliance group will support the GVK-led consortium’s bid for the second airport in the city. The greenfield airport — expected to be ready by 2012 — will be the gateway for two SEZs at Navi Mumbai and Maha Mumbai promoted by Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and his close associate Anand Jain.
In another significant though unrelated move, the GVK group — the lead partner in MIAL — is believed to be looking at increasing its stake in the consortium to 51% from the current 37%, giving the group a majority stake in the JV.
MIAL, the airport operator, is a joint venture owned by the GVK group (37%), Airports Company South Africa (10%), Bidvest group (27%) and Airports Authority of India (26%). MIAL operates the existing Mumbai airport at Santacruz, India’s largest in terms of the volume of traffic.
19/09/07 Sudipto Dey/Economic Times

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Categories: Airports Sep 2007, New Sep 2007