New Delhi, Feb 21 (IANS): The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the sale of 49 per cent stake in GMR Airports to France's Groupe ADP through the green channel mechanism.

Green channel is an automatic approval system, whereby a combination is deemed to have been approved by the CCI upon receiving the filing of the notice for the combination by the parties concerned.

"The Competition Commission of India (CCI) received the following green channel combination of acquisition by Atropos de Paris SA (ADP) of equity share capital of GMR Airports Limited (GAL), and GMR Infra Services Limited (GISL)," an official statement said.

Late on Thursday, GMR Infrastructure Ltd (GIL) announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Groupe ADP to sell 49 per cent stake in its airports arm for an equity consideration of Rs 10,780 crore.

The CCI said that under the proposed combination, ADP would acquire up to 100 per cent of the equity shares of GISL directly and 49 per cent of the equity shares of GAL directly and indirectly.

ADP is an international airport operator based in Paris, and carries out the financing, designing, and operating infrastructure, for a network of 25 airports in 13 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America.

Currently, ADP and its group have no operations in India, and do not have any shareholding or investment interest in any entity that carries on business in India.

GMR Airports, an unlisted public company, is a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure Ltd, and is engaged in developing, managing and operating airports in India and around the world. In India, GAL, through its subsidiaries, currently operates and manages two airports, Delhi and Hyderabad.

In addition, it is developing a greenfield airport in Goa and recently received a letter of authorisation (LoA) for the development and operations of Nagpur airport on a public-private partnership basis, among others.

GMR Infra Services Ltd, on the other and is an operating and holding company and its primary business is to hold shares in GMR Airports.