Adani Properties Moves Bombay High Court To Stop Bidvest From Selling Its Stake In The Mumbai International Airport

The Bombay High Court has agreed to hear a petition filed by the Grutam Adani-controlled Adani Group on September 30.

The Adani Group-owned company Adani Properties has sought a direction to the GVK Group-run Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) and the aviation ministry to allow buying out a 13.5% minority stake held by the South African firm Bidvest in the airport.

The court said that it would hear arguments for interim relief on September 30.

Earlier, Adani Properties had moved the court to execute its agreement with Bid Services Division Mauritius (Bidvest) to sell its stake in the airport.

Adani Properties has an agreement with Bidvest under which the company has agreed to sell its 13.5% stake to Adani Properties.

Bidvest had entered into an agreement with the Adani Group to sell its entire stake in the airport for a consideration of Rs 1,248 crore or Rs 77 a share.

In its suit filed on September 4, Adani had claimed that its share purchase agreement dated March 5, 2019 with Bidvest, held through its Mauritian arm, is still valid, subsisting as well as binding.

Currently, two South African investors in MIAL — Bidvest Services Division (Mauritius) and ACSA — are looking to exit. Their combined 23.5% holding is at the centre of a dispute between the GVK Group and the Adani Group. GVK owns around 50.5%, while the Airports Authority of India owns remaining stake.

The other shareholders in MIAL are ACSA Global (Airports Company of South Africa) which owns 10%, Airports Authority of India (26%) and GVK Airport Holdings, which is the majority owner with a 50.5% ownership.