JAKARTADAILY.ID - GMR Airports Netherlands B.V., a subsidiary of GMR Airports Limited (GAL) of India and state airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II (AP II) signed the Shareholders’ Agreement (SHA) and Share Subscription Agreement (SSA) to expand and operate Kualanamu International Airport in Medan, North Sumatra province.
GMR Airports said in a press statement that by signing the agreements on Thursday, GMR enters into a 49:51 partnership with APII, which operates 15 airports in Indonesia, including Kualanamu International Airport and Soekarno-Hatta airport in Jakarta. They will develop the Kualanamu International Airport as the Western International hub of Indonesia.
Based on their partnership agreement, they will develop, expand and operate the airport during the next 25 year period. Kualanamu International Airport, which has been in operation with healthy cash flow, handled more than 10 million passengers in 2018.
As the capital city of North Sumatra province, Medan is the fourth largest city in Indonesia with a total population of over 3.4 million.
Early November 2021, APII finalized the selection process of strategic partners for the expansion and operation of Kualanamu International Airport and had announced GMR Airports as the winning bidder. GMR Airports Limited and its 100% subsidiary GMR Airports International B.V had bid for the brownfield airport project as a consortium.
Srinivas Bommidala, the Energy & International Airports Chairman of GMR Group, said that GMR’s entry into the Indonesian aviation sector is a significant step to support the Indian government in implementing its "Look East" policy. “With our global aviation expertise and our partnership with Angkasa Pura II (AP II), we aspire to transform Kualanamu International Airport into a Western International hub of Indonesia and contribute to the infrastructure development of Indonesia,” he said.
GMR, which is the largest private airport operator in Asia and the fourth largest globally, has a number of operational airport portfolios, which include India’s busiest IGIA in Delhi, Hyderabad, and Mactan-Cebu International Airport in Cebu, Philippines. Currently, it is constructing three major greenfield airport projects in Goa, Visakhapatnam, and Crete in Greece. (*)
