GMR takes Fraport’s 10% stake in Delhi Airport – where now for both parties?

Germany's Fraport and India's GMR, which were (until recently) joint operators in Delhi's existing airport, have been taking divergent paths for some time.

Although Fraport has now exited all its Asian holdings (including St Petersburg in Russia, which is a BRIC country like China and India), GMR has been concentrating more on its home country and in southeast Asia, while tying up a partnership agreement with the shareholder Groupe ADP.

On the face of it, this looks like being a case of 'Goodnight Vienna' for Fraport where Asia is concerned; although a return to India, at least, where Fraport should know the ropes by now, cannot be entirely discounted. After all, that is what Flughafen Zürich has done, and in a big way, as the builder and operator of Jewar Noida, the new New Delhi airport.

As for GMR, its direction has been towards the home country for some time now, in anticipation of the next phase of the countrywide concession programme, which is now anticipated for 3Q2025 (although it has been 'anticipated' for years).

GMR knows that there will be much more competition this time compared to previous tranches in 2006 and 2019. It would be ironic should it find itself in competition with Fraport for, say the Chennai airport.