Adani Group eyes airport biz IPO in 4 yrs

Sharing a major update on its airport business, Adani Enterprises chief financial officer (CFO) Jugeshinder Singh today said the parent company is eying a public listing of its wholly owned subsidiary, Adani Airport Holdings Ltd, by the financial year 2027-28. If that happens, it'll be the seventh public listing of an Adani group company since its parent company Adani Enterprises Ltd was listed on the stock exchanges in 1994.

The last Adani group company to list on the exchanges was Adani Wilmar, a 50:50 joint venture between the Adani Group and Wimar Group. The company was listed on February 8, 2022.

Additionally, the Adani Group also plans to infuse ₹60,000 crore into its airports over the next decade, as part of its plan to transform the aviation hubs into commercial centres. With a current portfolio of seven operational airports and one under construction in Navi Mumbai, Adani Airport's combined annual passenger handling capacity stands at 100-110 million. The company aims to amplify capacity 2.5-3 times by 2040.

In the next five years, Adani Airport says it wants to invest ₹30,000 crore for the augmentation of airport terminals and airside facilities. The company has already poured around ₹18,000 crore into the initial phase of the Navi Mumbai airport.

Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani, during the company's annual general meeting on Monday, said outside the government, Adani Group remains the largest infrastructure developer with its extensive portfolio of airports, and other key areas like power, ports, roads, data centres, defence, manufacturing, logistics, and material.

“With India targeted to become a 10 trillion-dollar economy by FY32, the spend on infrastructure is expected to grow at a CAGR of 20-25% and reach a cumulative spend of USD 2.5 trillion. Given that, at the very core, we are an infrastructure company, we are well positioned to capitalise on the upcoming opportunities,” he said.

How big is Adani Airport

The Adani group operates and manages prominent airports in India, including the airports in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Guwahati, and Thiruvananthapuram and greenfield airport in Navi Mumbai. In the financial year ending March 31, 2024, Adani Airports added 42 new routes and 20 new airlines as the passenger movement across its seven operational airports went up by 19% to 88.6 million over the year.

The company is also set to operationalise the greenfield Navi Mumbai airport by FY25. Further, Phase I of the city-side development across 98 acres of land at five airports has also started.

"We will be growing faster than India in our airports portfolio, just as we had done previously in the ports business. It is estimated that India will see a 6x jump in the overall passenger traffic in the next 10 years," Adani Enterprises said in its annual report for 2023-24 released last month.

At present, Adani Airport handles 23% of the passenger movements and 33% of air cargo traffic pan-India through its seven operational airports. It has concession agreements for a 50‑year period starting from their respective commercial operation dates with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for the operation, management and development of six airports – Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Guwahati, and Thiruvananthapuram. AEL has also acquired the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), along with the development rights of a greenfield airport in Navi Mumbai International Airport Limited (NMIAL), for 30 years, with an option to extend by another 30 years.