Fairfax to list Anchorage in Indian stock exchanges

Fairfax India Holdings Corporation, the Canada based financial corporation, has started preparatory work to list Anchorage Infrastructure Investments Holdings Ltd (Anchorage) on the Indian stock exchanges, potentially valuing the company at $1.3 billion. Fairfax controlled Bengaluru International Airport (BIAL), will invest around $2.2 billion to develop infrastructure to handle around 90 million passengers by 2034. Prem Watsa, Chairman of Fairfax, in a letter to shareholders, said that since the inception of Anchorage in June 2019, it has actively participated in bidding for airports in India and the privatisation process of Indian Railways. Fairfax expects to close the transaction in March 2021, where it will transfer 43.6% of the 54% that it owns in BIAL to Anchorage and will sell 11.5% of Anchorage for cash consideration of $130 million.4th Indian Cement Review Conference 202117-18 March Click for event info The transaction values 100% of BIAL at $2.6 billion and will result in OMERS indirectly owning approximately 5% of BIAL. Between March 2017 and May 2018, Fairfax invested $653 million to acquire 54% of BIAL. BIAL's revenues dropped by 79%, to $23 million, in the two quarters ending in September 2020. The management has taken several operational efficiencies, which will result in annualised savings of $10 million. Passenger traffic fell 60% from the previous year to about 14 million, and cargo handled dropped 17% mainly because of the reduced belly capacity as described above. Based on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), BIAL's revenue dropped by 58% to $83.1 million, resulting in a loss after tax of $66.8 million versus a profit of $53.8 million in 2019. Fairfax expects higher user fees in the third five year control period, which will start in April 2021. The company expects BIAL to generate a total return on equity (RoE) of 16.5% for the second control period and an RoE of 17.7% for the combined first and second control periods. Image Source Also read: Canadian firm Fairfax will expand in Indian infra