No Pressure From Adani Group To Sell Mumbai Airport, Sale Was Done To Repay Debt Raised For Bengaluru Airport : GVK's Reddy

GVK Group Vice Chairman Sanjay Reddy on Tuesday has categorically denied allegations that he was under pressure from the Adani Group or anyone else to sell the Mumbai airport.

His comments come on a day when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claimed in Lok Sabha that "Mumbai airport, was taken away from GVK using agencies such as the CBI and the ED, and was given to Adani by the Government of India."

Adani Group took over the management of the Mumbai airport from the GVK Group in July 2021. It currently owns 74 per cent stake in Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. The leading Infrastructure behemoth bought out 50.5 per cent from GVK Group and 23.5 per cent from minority partners including Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), and Bidvest Group. With eight airports (in its management and development portfolio), Adani Airport Holdings is now India's largest airport infrastructure company,

In an interview to television channel NDTV on Tuesday, Sanjay Reddy said, "There was absolutely no pressure from the Adani group or anyone else for us to sell the Mumbai airport." While explaining the circumstances that led to the sale of the airport, Reddy said the group was looking to raise funds for the airport business.

Elaborating on the transaction, Reddy said that they were attempting to raise funds since the debt raised for Bengaluru airport's acquisition was to be repaid. That's when they found three investors, just before the airport business was impacted by pandemic causing serious financial stress.

"That's when the firm was approached by Gautam Adani, who agreed to complete the transaction for Mumbai Airport in a month." Reddy said.

"... He (Adani) said that he will assure that we will conclude the entire transaction in one month which was very important for us. So, from that perspective whatever we did was in the interest of the company and the lenders who we had to repay and therefore, we had to close the transaction with Adani because we didn't see any light of day with the other investors," Reddy said.

While leading the Opposition attack over the Adani-Hindenburg issue in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Gandhi alleged that the government tweaked rules in favour of Adani and said the clause that no one without any prior experience would be involved in the development of airports was done away with.

"This rule was changed by the government and Adani was given six airports. After that India's most strategic, profitable airport, Mumbai Airport, was taken away from GVK using agencies like the CBI, ED, and was given to Adani by the Government of India," he alleged.

(With inputs from PTI)