Consortium to invest $1.5bn at Mumbai

Tina Milton

Print Article E-Mail Article E-Mail Author

The GVK-SA consortium has confirmed details of its victory in the tender to manage Mumbai airport

The GVK-SA consortium, which comprises Indian infrastructure group GVK, Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) and the Bidvest Group, has officially confirmed that it has won the tender to modernise, operate, develop and manage India's Mumbai airport.

The consortium will partner the Indian government, which will retain a 26% shareholding in the airport during the 30-year concession period. The consortium interest is split as follows: GVK 37%, ACSA 10% and Bidvest 27%.

ACSA plans to maintain its focus on Africa but will examine opportunities to win business at airports on Indian Ocean islands, the company said.

ACSA managing director Monhla Hlahla acknowledged that non-aeronautical activities will be crucial to the consortium's strategy at Mumbai. "We believe we will extract value for the government of India through non-aeronautical commercial activities as ACSA is particularly well positioned to realise an all-encompassing commercial transformation for Mumbai. The remarkable growth of commercial revenue has contributed significantly to ACSA's financial success over the years. It has grown by 364% in the past eight years at a rate nearly three times of the company's aeronautical revenues. In the financial year ending March 31 the commercial division contributed 45.5% of the total group revenues and 76.6% of ACSA's headline net operating profit."