Today morning, GMR Infra announced that it has decided to increase the transaction size by agreeing to divest 49% in GMR Airports. Earlier, the company had agreed on sale of 44.44% stake.

This increased stake sale is to TRIL Urban Transport Pvt Ltd, which is a part of the Tata group and an affiliate of GIC and SSG Capital Management (collectively "Investors") in one or more tranches.

The Tata group is purchasing the airport unit’s equity shares from the parent at Rs.7000 crore. Post the buying, Tata will hold 20% stake, GIC will hold 15% and SSG will hold 10%. This values the GMR Airports at Rs.18,000 crore.

This 49% stake sale is expected to pump in Rs.1000 crore into the GMR Airports.

This increased stake sale is to deleverage the balance sheet – it will help GMR Airports repay Rs.1,000 crore debt, besides retiring Rs.7,000 crore of parent corporate debt.

The market is very happy with this development. The stock which had closed yesterday at Rs.23.95, opened at Rs.24 and went on to hit a new 52-week high at Rs.25.