Indian billionaire Gautam Adani's airport arm raises $1 billion at an $18 billion valuation

Gautam Adani's airport business has signed binding agreements to raise 98.25 billion rupees, about $1 billion, from four institutional investors at a valuation of roughly $18 billion before the money arrives.

Adani Airport Holdings announced the transaction on Wednesday, Sept. 9. The buyers are Temasek, the Singaporean state investment company, funds managed by BlackRock, the American asset manager, Alpha Wave Global and Premji Invest, the family office of the Indian technology billionaire Azim Premji.

They are subscribing to newly issued shares rather than buying existing ones, which means the money goes into the company rather than to a selling shareholder. The purchase happens in three tranches and leaves them holding about 5.54% once the final one completes, expected by July 2027. Adani Enterprises, the listed parent, remains the controlling shareholder. The deal is subject to customary conditions and regulatory approvals.

The proceeds are earmarked for expanding and modernising the airports the company already runs, developing commercial districts around them that the group calls Adani Airport City ecosystems, and building out adjacent businesses including ground handling and passenger services. The company expects the capital to lift its annual capacity toward 200 million passengers.

Adani Airport Holdings operates eight airports including Mumbai International, handling more than 23% of India's passenger traffic and about 33% of its air cargo. It is the largest private operator in the country by number of airports, though GMR Group handles more passengers across its network.

The timing matters. Bloomberg described the transaction as the group's first major deal since Adani settled United States legal probes, and it is being read in India as a signal that international institutional money is returning after years of regulatory scrutiny.

Two of the assets came from South Africa.

Adani took control of Mumbai International Airport in 2021, acquiring a 23.5% stake, some 282 million shares, from ACSA Global and Bid Services Division (Mauritius) for 16.85 billion rupees. ACSA Global is the international arm of Airports Company South Africa, the state-owned operator that runs Johannesburg's O.R. Tambo and eight other South African airports. Bid Services is a vehicle of the Bidvest Group, the Johannesburg-listed conglomerate Brian Joffe founded in 1988. The two had held the stake since the airport's privatisation, and Adani bought them out alongside GVK Group's controlling interest in a wider transaction reported at around 150 billion rupees.

The group's own move into Africa went less well. Kenya cancelled a proposed concession for Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, along with a separate power transmission agreement, after Adani was indicted in the United States.

Adani Enterprises shares rose 3% to 3,043 rupees on Wednesday, a seventh consecutive session of gains. The fundraising follows a 150 billion rupee qualified institutional placement by the parent company in July, a mechanism that lets listed Indian companies sell shares to institutions without a public offering.

Jeet Adani, a non-executive director of the airport unit and Gautam Adani's son, called the investment an important milestone for the platform. Chief executive Arun Bansal said the company intends to become the world's largest airports business.

Reuters reported in July that the group was considering launching an airline, which would put it against IndiGo and Air India.

Temasek's participation comes as its exposure to Air India draws political scrutiny in Singapore.