According to two persons with firsthand knowledge of the event, the Adani Group has spent about $1 billion in Navi Mumbai International Airport Ltd. in an effort to launch operations by December of next year.
Adani has contributed ₹1,710 crore of the ₹8,625 crore (about $991 million) in equity to the Navi Mumbai airport to date. Additionally, a group of banks has provided ₹2,900 crore in term loans to it, and the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Ltd (Cidco), a Maharashtra city development organization, has contributed an extra ₹3,655 crore in equity, according to these sources. As the project advances, Adani and Cidco will contribute a further ₹1,511 crore.
“The investment came after the banks’ recent completion of their due diligence,” one of the two individuals stated.
The Navi Mumbai airport would be operational by December 2024, according to group chairman Gautam Adani, who made this announcement on July 19 at an annual general meeting of shareholders.
According to the previously mentioned source, “the plan is to start the first of the four international passenger terminals before December 2024.” At least 20 million people and 300,000 tonnes of cargo are anticipated to travel through this terminal annually. It will lighten the traffic at Mumbai International Airport, which is expected to handle 51 million people in the current fiscal year. It is the busiest airport in the nation.
According to this source, there is sufficient finance in the present round to construct the first two of the Navi Mumbai airport’s five phases. According to the source, the project requires a $2.5 billion (₹20,853 crore) total investment. According to the individual, at least ₹12,770 crore is anticipated to be obtained in the form of term loans from a group of lenders; for these loans, the necessary financial closing was finished last year, and more due diligence has been carried out in the months since the Hindenburg report.
The two individuals claim that State Bank of India, EXIM Bank of India, IDBI Bank, India Infrastructure Finance Co. Ltd., Union Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Central Bank of India, and Bank of Maharashtra are among the consortium’s lenders. According to the first respondent, some loans have terms of up to 26 years.
Eight lenders’ representatives as well as Cidco’s spokesperson did not respond to emails sent to them. A representative for Adani Group declined to comment.
Initially envisioned in 1999, there were concerns that the $4 billion share pledges for the Navi Mumbai airport, which Adani took over in 2017, would be further delayed after Hindenburg Research pushed the business to refocus its objectives by prepaying debt.
Source- livemint
