GMR-consortium wins airport project at Istanbul

The consortium of GMR Infrastructure Limited (GMR) 40 per cent, Limak Insaat Sanayi San Ve Tic A.S Turkey (Limak) 40 per cent and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) 20 per cent, has won the tender for Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (SGA) at Istanbul, Turkey, amidst intense competition from global firms. This BOT (Build "� Operate - Transfer) project involves construction of a new international airport terminal with a 10 million capacity in 30 months besides managing the existing domestic and international terminals (with a passenger capacity of 3.5 million per annum). The current international terminal will be converted to an all domestic terminal, subsequent to construction of the new terminal. The term of BOT concession would be for 20 years, while the new international terminal will have to be constructed within a period of 30 months from the transfer of the facility.

The total concession fee of Euro 1.93 billion (approx Rs.10808 crore or USD 2.7 billion) is payable to the Government Authority and is structured over a 20 year period of concession, with no concession fee payable in the first three years.

SGA is emerging as a second airport in Istanbul, as an alternative to the already constrained Istanbul Ataturk airport. SGA is located at a similar distance from the centre of Istanbul as the existing Ataturk airport, and strategically placed in the midst of Turkey's most important industrial development zone. SGA is also located within 5 kilometres of the Istanbul Formula One Race circuit.

The consortium plans to build an advanced international airport terminal and employ global management techniques to operate SGA. SGA is expected to witness a significant growth in traffic, as Istanbul is among the fastest growing destinations in the world. The consortium expects the liberalisation of the Aviation Market to stimulate high growth over the period of the concession. In the past two years, SGA has witnessed an average growth rate of over 45 per cent.

SGA currently has a total capacity of 3.5 million passengers per annum, whereas the traffic in 2006 had already touched the 3 million mark.

The tender process was conducted by the Under Secretariat of Defence Industries, and witnessed intense competition from five bidders including major airport operators like Fraport - Germany, Venice Airport - Italy, TAV - Turkey and Chicago Airport - USA. ABN AMRO was the financial advisor on this transaction for the Limark "� GMR "� MAHB consortium.

About GMR: GMR Infrastructure Limited (GIL) is India's leading infrastructure developer and is the holding company of the Group's infrastructure projects being implemented through various special purpose vehicles (SPVs) across businesses covering Energy, Roads and Airports. GMR Infrastructure's model is unique; it is the only listed company on Indian bourses which offers investors an opportunity to participate in the emerging growth opportunities in the airport sector.

Over the years the company has followed the public private partnership model to build a portfolio of high quality assets that include two airports, comprising the brownfield expansion at New Delhi and the greenfield venture at Hyderabad; five greenfield power plants "� with three in operation and two under development, and six road projects out of which three are annuity and three toll based road projects.

About Limak: Limak is one of the largest construction companies in Turkey and has successfully completed construction of a number of projects in roads, highways, dams, hydroelectric power stations, industrial buildings, ports and airports. The Limak Group also has interests in cement manufacturing, tourism, energy sectors and manage a chain of five hotels with a total of 5,000 rooms.

About MAHB: Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) was incorporated as a public limited company in November 1999 and was thereafter listed on the Main Board of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange, becoming the first airport operating company to be listed in Asia and the sixth in the world. MAHB currently operates and manages 38 commercial airports in Malaysia of which 5 are major international airports including the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Apart from being an investor, MAHB is also providing services to GMR's greenfield Hyderabad International Airport Ltd.