GMR to sell 51% in road venture to cut debt by Rs 1,000 cr

GMR Infrastructure Limited and GMR Highways Limited have signed a share purchase agreement with joint venture partners to divest 51 per cent stake in GMR OSE Hungund Hospet Highways Private Limited (GOHHHPL).

GMR OSE operates the Hungund-Hospet section of National Highway No 13, which is a 99-kilometre (km) project in Karnataka, which was won by the GMR OSE consortium in 2010 on 'design, build, finance, operate, and transfer' basis.

Oriental Structural Engineers (OSE) Pvt Ltd is the joint venture partner in the project. The sale is envisaged in two tranches, with OSE first buying 14.99 per cent stake of the project from the GMR group. The second tranche will be completed after approvals from National Highways Authority of India, lenders of GMR OSE and other closing conditions typical of such transactions. The overall consideration for the sale is Rs 85 crore. Grandhi Kiran Kumar, corporate chairman, GMR group, said, "Divestment of this asset will reduce debt as on Tuesday by Rs 1,078 crore on a fully consolidated basis."