The Bombay High Court on Wednesday refused interim relief to Adani Group, which had sought an injunction against sale of stake of South African firm Bidvest in the Mumbai airport to GVK Group or any other third party.
Adani Group had approached the high court in September seeking execution of its agreement with Bid Services Division Mauritius (‘Bidvest’), for sale of Bidvest’s 13.5 per cent stake in the airport to Adani.
GVK is the majority stakeholder in the Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), while Adani Group is seeking to buy Bidvest’s minority stake. As per an agreement between Adani and Bidvest for stake sale, the last date for making necessary payments and transfer of shares was September 30, which was later extended, by consent, to November 7.
On September 15 this year, an arbitration tribunal, which was hearing the dispute between GVK and Bidvest over the same issue, gave the GVK group time till October 31 to deposit the purchase price if it wanted to exercise the “right of first refusal”.
The tribunal said if GVK failed to deposit the amount, Bidvest would be free to sell its shares to any third party.