Adani Airports becomes India's most valuable private airport operator after $1 billion fundraise

5 min read9 Sep 2026, 06:38 PM IST

Adani Airports is expected to be the next Adani entity to pursue a public-market listing, adding significance to the new valuation.(REUTERS)

Summary

The investment translates to a post-money valuation of about $19 billion for the company, almost twice the market capitalization of rival GMR Airports.

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Adani Airport Holdings Ltd (AAHL) tapped external equity investors for the first time to raise ₹9,825 crore (just over $1 billion) to build a war chest ahead of an impending privatization of 11 airports by the Indian government.

Marquee private equity investors Alpha Wave Global, Premji Invest, Temasek and BlackRock-managed funds will invest the capital in three tranches by July 2027 for a 5.54% stake in the private airport company.

The transaction values the operator of eight airports including Mumbai and Ahmedabad at $18 billion pre-money, according to a press release issued by Adani on Wednesday. That translates to a post-money valuation of about $19 billion for the company, which is expected to be the next Adani entity to head for a public market listing.

Adani Airports is more valuable than marquee operators Aeroport de Paris, valued at $12.5 billion, and Heathrow Airport Holdings, valued at $11.8 billion. The world's most valuable airport operators include Spanish government-owned Aena, which has a market capitalization of $46 billion, and Thai government-owned Airports of Thailand, valued at $28 billion.

Its valuation is almost twice the market capitalization of listed peer GMR Airports Ltd, which stood at just over ₹1 trillion (about $10.8 billion) on Wednesday morning.

Also Read | Adani, GMR lean on retail, duty-free as air traffic cools

“The higher valuation for Adani Airport, as compared to rival GMR Airports, comes primarily on account of the sharp growth that the airport operator is expecting from non-aeronautical revenues. This includes the investment that Adani is making in city-side development projects,” said Ankita Shah, vice president at brokerage firm Elara Securities.

AAHL’s first primary equity raise from external investors provides a fresh institutional valuation benchmark for a business that has so far funded its expansion through internal accruals, debt and project-level financing.

Aviation exposure

The investor consortium includes those with aviation exposure. Premji Invest, the investment arm of Azim Premji, is an investor in SNV Aviation-owned Akasa Air, having participated in the airline’s 2025 fundraise of $125 million. Its investment in AAHL gives Premji Invest exposure to both an airline and an airport operator. Temasek is the majority shareholder in Singapore Airlines, which owns 25.1% of Air India.

“We are privileged to have such marquee, long-term investors alongside us on this journey,” said Jeet Adani, non-executive director of AAHL. “India’s aviation sector is one of the most powerful multipliers of the country’s GDP growth. Every expansion in air connectivity catalyzes trade, tourism, employment and regional development well beyond the airport gate.”

AAHL, a wholly owned subsidiary of group flagship and incubator Adani Enterprises Ltd, has been a significant debt-funded business. AAHL’s airport business had ₹29,746 crore of debt as of March, of which ₹29,616 crore is long-term debt, according to AEL’s FY26 disclosures.

The borrowing has supported the Navi Mumbai airport construction, payments related to acquired airports, new terminals and non-aeronautical capital expenditure.

Adani Enterprises' market cap totalled $43.5 billion on Wednesday morning. AAHL's valuation of $19 billion implies that 43% of the flagship company's valuation comes from the airports business.

The fresh equity comes after a sharp improvement in AAHL’s financial performance. The airports business reported total income of ₹13,081 crore in FY26, up 28% from ₹10,224 crore in FY25, while Ebitda rose 55% to ₹5,394 crore from ₹3,480 crore. Profit before tax stood at ₹1,427 crore. Passenger traffic rose to 95.3 million from 94.4 million.

The business is trying to increase its dependence on non-aeronautical income. Aero revenue rose 26% in FY26, while non-aero revenue increased 31%, according to AEL.

AAHL operates eight airports—Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Guwahati, Mangaluru and Thiruvananthapuram.

Also Read | QIP fundraising hits one-year high, Adani firms dominate

Global debt

The company has previously tapped the global debt markets. In June 2025, AAHL raised $750 million through external commercial borrowings to refinance debt and fund infrastructure upgrades, capacity expansion across six airports and its non-aeronautical businesses.

Mumbai International Airport Ltd subsequently secured a separate $1 billion financing programme, including $750 million of investment-grade notes for refinancing and provision for another $250 million.

India is preparing to award 11 airports under 50-year public-private-partnership concessions in five bundles, potentially attracting about ₹8,622 crore of private investment. The airport bundles are Amritsar-Kangra, Varanasi-Gaya-Kushinagar, Bhubaneswar-Hubballi, Raipur-Aurangabad and Tiruchirappalli-Tirupati. The government is also considering limits on how many bundles a single bidder can win to address concentration concerns.

AAHL’s principal private-sector rival, GMR Airports, the operator of airports in New Delhi and Hyderabad, is also raising capital. It plans to raise ₹6,500 crore, including ₹5,000 crore through equity and other securities and ₹1,500 crore through bonds, while it had raised ₹5,900 crore through non-convertible debentures in FY26 to refinance ₹5,000 crore of debt.

Capacity expansion

Adani Airport said the ₹9,825 crore infusion will fund airport modernization and capacity expansion, about 22 million square feet of mixed-use development in the first phase of Adani airport cities, and expansion of ground handling and other non-aeronautical businesses. The company expects the investments to increase capacity to serve about 200 million passengers annually.

Also Read | Govt estimates at least ₹8,622 crore private investment in 11 airports

Even though airport operators remain bullish on capacity expansion, India’s passenger traffic growth has slowed and airlines have cut capacities.

“Airport operators are looking at a 20–30-year horizon now, while the current slowdown is a temporary phenomenon driven by geopolitical tensions including the West Asia crises and partly due to airlines waiting for new planes,” Shah of Elara Securities explained.

The fundraise follows AEL’s ₹15,000 crore qualified institutional placement in July, its largest institutional equity raising.

“We will continue to build capabilities within AAHL to scale it into the world's largest airports platform,” said Arun Bansal, CEO of AAHL.

About the Authors

Abhishek Law

Abhishek Law has spent 18 years in journalism, which in news industry terms means he has survived several newsroom restructurings, countless “urgent” press releases, and more cups of tea than he can reasonably count. Based in New Delhi, he covers aviation for Mint, a sector where aircraft, oil prices, geopolitics and airline CEOs regularly conspire to make his life interesting. Most of his time gets occupied by translating airline jargon like ASKs, yields, load factors and fleet strategies into language that doesn’t require a pilot’s licence. His motto is simple: if readers need a glossary, he hasn’t done his job properly. On most days, the quadragenarian is tracking airline strategies, policy changes and the occasional mid-air disruption that suddenly become a stock market story. When planes are behaving themselves (which is not very often nowadays), he strays into other corporate beats like steel, trying to figure out what’s really happening. He loves to talk, especially ask—that one more question which people are uncomfortable with, and saving contacts in his phone as a "Source who may or may not pick up calls”. But, on a serious note, the goal remains simple: cut through jargon, find that additional detail, and turn complicated business stories into something one can actually enjoy reading.

Nehal Chaliawala

Nehal chronicles India’s top conglomerates for Mint. From navigating the complexities of big-bang mergers and large-scale fundraises to decoding high-profile recruitments and seemingly inexplicable corporate pivots, Nehal focuses on unpacking the long-term strategies of the country’s most influential business houses. He aims to provide readers with a clear-eyed view of how these corporate titans shape the broader Indian economy. His professional journey began at The Economic Times in 2018, where he spent over five years before joining Mint in 2023. Over his career, he has tracked diverse sectors like automobiles, metals, cement, power, infrastructure, and renewable energy. He also keeps a close watch on the intricacies of corporate finance and corporate governance. This wide-ranging sectoral experience allows him to better understand India’s large conglomerates that sit at the confluence of these vital industries. Nehal studied mechanical engineering from the Pune University and graduated with distinction in 2017. Driven by a passion for storytelling, he pivoted to journalism immediately after, attending the Asian College of Journalism in Chennai. While his time in the newsroom has made him a healthy sceptic, his engineering roots keep him perpetually inquisitive about how things work—and why they fail. He actively encourages readers to reach out for feedback, collaboration, or news tips. Nehal can be reached via LinkedIn or directly at nehal.chaliawala@livemint.com.

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