GMR to focus on emerging mkts for airport business

GMR Infrastructure, which runs four airports across the globe, is looking at emerging markets in South East Asia, South America and the African continent for expanding its airport business, a top company official said.

GMR Infrastructure, the flagship company of infrastructure conglomerate GMR Group, is currently developing four airport projects, including two in India -- Delhi and Hyderabad -- and one each in Male and Istanbul.

"We are looking at opportunities for expanding our airport business in the international market. We will be focusing on emerging markets, including South East Asia, South America and several African countries. We have not identified any particular project as of now," GMR Chief Financial Officer A Subbarao told PTI here.

The company is also looking at developed countries, including the USA, among others, for expanding its airports business, he said.

The BSE-listed company made its maiden international foray by winning the bid to develop the Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (ISGIA) at Istanbul, followed by the Male airport project in the Maldives.

GMR, which reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 66.69 crore for the quarter ended June 30, mainly on account of lower revenues from the Delhi airport, high interest costs and increased tax outgo, has planned a capital expenditure of around Rs 15,000 crore over the next 12 months on executing existing projects.

"We have set a capex of Rs 15,000 crore for implementing projects in road, energy and airport businesses. We will be spending over Rs 8,000 crore on our road business, Rs 3,000 crore on energy and rest on our airport business," he said.

The Bangalore-based company has started construction of a 1,370-MW thermal power plant at Chhattisgarh, while its two existing gas-based projects, the 388-MW Vermagiri plant and 220-MW Kakinada plant, have been achieving a higher plant load factor (PLF).

"Around 1,600 MW capacity will be fully operational this fiscal and we will add another 2,000 MW by September, 2012," he said.

GMR Energy, the group's energy division, has acquired a stake in two coal mining companies of Indonesia -- PT Barasentosa Lestari and PT Golden Energy Mines Tbk -- and one South African company, Homeland Energy Group, to scale up its energy business and secure fuel supplies.

"These acquisitions will provide fuel security for our power plants under construction and also support further capacity addition and trading," Subbarao said, adding, "We will continue to look for similar acquisitions in future."

However, he said the company has no plans to expand its energy generation business in the international market.

"There is huge demand for power in India and hence, we will concentrate on the domestic market," he added.