In a strategy of selling assets to raise cash against debt, GMR Infra is planning to sell its aircraft maintenance facility. Jointly managed by GHIAL and Malaysian Aerospace Engineering Sdn Bhd earlier, the facility is part of GMR aero SEZ at Hyderabad airport which is operated by the consortium GMR Hyderabad International Airport. Getting a conditional nod from commerce ministry, GMR will have to pay a token amount of $1 and take over the entire debt worth `240crore.
As the aircraft maintenance is 35% costlier than abroad owing to the high taxes, most of the country’s carriers prefer to have their planes maintained in facilities overseas. And, the MRO facility has been making huge losses amounting to `8 crore a month. To incur the losses, GMR now aims to raise $250 million through an IPO of its airports.