GMR Infrastructure on Thursday announced that it has won a bid to build and operate the Male International Airport (MIA) in the capital city of Maldives.
A consortium of GMR and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad bid $78 million upfront for the project besides 1% of revenue share for the first year of operations in 2014, and 10% up to 2035, said Siddharth Kapur, chief financial officer of the group?s airports division.
The bid also included a 15% revenue share on fuel trade till 2014, followed by a 27% share thereafter. ?We emerged in front based on our revenue share committed by us. It was a close competition,? Kapur said.
GMR beat two other bids from Zurich Airport-GVK and a consortium led by Aeroport de Paris.
?With its tourism potential and exponential growth in passenger movement, the MIA is an extremely profitable airport with a high revenue model,? the company said.
GMR would operate the airport for a period of 25 years. The project also includes a sea plane port. With the latest bid, the company now has five airports in its portfolio.
GMR had previously won a bid to modernise and operate the Hanimaadhoo airport in the northern islands of Maldives. Besides, it runs the international airports at Delhi and Hyderabad and the Sabiha Gokcen International Airport at Istanbul, Turkey.
GMR had reported revenues of Rs 4,566 crore in the financial year 2009-10, a bulk of it coming from its energy business followed by airports.
GMR chief financial officer A Subba Rao on Monday said the group was willing to buy stake of its minority partners in three airports.
?We will certainly consider if the stakeholders come forward with an offer. If a minority partner wants to sell its stake, naturally we have the first opportunity to buy,? Subba Rao said.