S&R Associates is representing Aéroports de Paris SA (ADP) in its agreement with GMR Airports Infrastructure Limited (GIL), in a merger of GIL with the holding company GMR Airports Limited (GAL), where ADP and GIL hold 49% and 51%, respectively.
Partners Rajat Sethi, Mohit Gogia and Lakshmi Pradeep led the S&R team, with assistance from the following: associates Meher Mehta, Henal Shah, Oorja Chari, Sakshi Jain and Rishabh Uppal on corporate matters; partner Jitesh Shahani and associate MV Abhinaya on capital markets matters; Simran Dhir, head of the competition law practice, counsel Akshat Kulshrestha and associates Samali Verma and Anuja Agarwal on competition law matters; partner Sumit Bansal and associates Shivani Chhabra and Taranjeet Singh on tax matters; and partner Divyanshu Pandey on banking and finance matters.
The merger is expected to be completed in the first half of 2024, subject to completion of the relevant steps and regulatory approvals, after which the merged entity will be listed on the Indian stock exchanges.
The transaction includes a subscription by ADP to EUR331 million (USD365 million) in foreign currency convertible bonds, which will be issued by GIL.
After the merger, it is anticipated that ADP will control 45.7% economic interest in the merged entity, while the GMR group will continue as controlling shareholders.
The deal is aimed at simplifying and clarifying the capital structure of the airport holding company, fully revealing the value of GAL and providing liquidity to the stake held by ADP.
The new GIL entity will be a more agile development platform to capture opportunities in India and Southeast Asia.
