GMR Infra raises $1b by stake sale to institutions

TNN / Dec 13, 2007, 00:00 IST

Share

AA

Text Size

Small
Medium
Large

GMR Infrastructure said it had raised $1 billion by offloading 9% stake through a qualified institutional placement to investors like George Soros and Citigroup Inc.

GMR Infra raises $1b by stake sale to institutions

NEW DELHI: GMR Infrastructure on Wednesday said it had raised $1 billion by offloading 9% stake through a qualified institutional placement to investors like George Soros and Citigroup Inc.
This values the company at over $10 billion, or close to Rs 45,000 crore as the GMR group said. The amount raised would be used for both ongoing projects in India and acquisition abroad.
The group's CFO Madhu Terdal said that this QIP is part of their major expansion programme "aimed at becoming a $25 billion dollar company in next three years".
GMR Infrastructure raised Rs 3,970 crore from 49 investors and has applied to stock exchanges for listing of additional shares to be issued as part of the QIP deal. GMR sold 165.2 million shares at Rs 240 each, at a discount to BSE's price of Rs 243.20. After the transaction, promoter holding would fall to 74%, from around 81% earlier, with institutional investors holding at 24% and retail investors stake at 2%.

GMR plans to spend Rs 300 crore on its forthcoming Istanbul airport, while Rs 500 crore is proposed to be earmarked for a special economic zone in Tamil Nadu and some money will flow into energy projects that include hydroelectric plants. "We are also building a war chest to help future growth through acquisitions," an executive said.
A group official said: "We are looking at all opportunities. The group will open a business office in London to scout for opportunities in Europe. We may get into building roads too there." While GMR has won the Istanbul airport project, it will bid for the Prague airport too. GMR has already won the rights for modernisation of Delhi airport and is building a greenfield airport in Hyderabad, to be operational next March.
"The response reflects the confidence that global investors have in the company," group chairman G M Rao said.

End of Article

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA