Upping its bet on India’s infrastructure story, GQG Partners bought close to 5% stake in GMR Airports Infrastructure in a deal worth Rs 1,672 crore through the open market.
GQG Partners Emerging Markets Fund bought 92,636,787 shares, and Goldman Sachs GQG Partners International Opportunities Fund bought 19,02,45,637 shares, according to bulk deals data. The shares purchased represent a cumulative stake of 4.7%.
The shares were bought at Rs 59.09 apiece, a 4% discount to the previous closing price of the stock. Besides GMR Airports in the transport infrastructure space, GQG Partners also has investments in various companies of Adani Group, including Adani Enterprises, which operates the Mumbai International Airport.
The strong buying drove shares of the GMR Group company sharply higher in trade on Friday to hit the highest levels in over 14 years. Shares hit a high of Rs 70.40 intraday, the highest since June 2009. The scrip ended nearly 12% up at Rs 68.89 on the BSE and volumes of more than 862 million shares were significantly higher than the three-month average volumes.
Year-to-date, shares of GMR Airports have given more than 73% returns to investors. In 3 years, the stock has rallied more than 190%. According to the shareholding pattern available on Trendlyne, foreign institutional investors held 28% stake in the company as of September end, and mutual funds about 1.3% stake.
For the September quarter, GMR Airports Infrastructure reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 190 crore, against Rs 197 crore a year ago. The company’s revenue during the quarter rose 25% to Rs 1,607 crore.
Source: Economic Times