MUMBAI: Adani Airport Holdings (AAHL) is raising Rs 9,825 crore ($1 billion) from four investors at a pre-money equity valuation of about $18 billion, the company said on Wednesday. The entire amount will be a primary infusion. The fresh capital will be used for airport expansion and modernisation, among other things.AAHL plans to increase annual passenger-handling capacity to about 200 million, from about half that last year at its eight airports.The company may raise another billion dollars in the coming months as it expands its business in India and possibly seek global opportunities, said people aware of the matter.“The investor consortium comprises Alpha Wave Global, Premji Invest, Temasek and BlackRock managed funds,” AAHL said in a press release.Also Read: Fortune Hospitality plans Rs 60,000-crore AI data centre parkThe company said the $18 billion figure establishes “a significant external institutional valuation benchmark for the airports platform.”Valuation as per PotentialAAHL didn’t disclose specific amounts involved.According to people with knowledge of the matter, Alpha Wave Global led the round with $450 million. Premji Invest, the family office of Azim Premji, invested $300 million. Temasek, the Singapore government’s investment firm, and BlackRock contributed the rest. The investments will be made in three parts, with the final one expected by July 2027. Once completed, the investors will collectively hold about 5.54% in Adani Airport Holdings.The money will also go into airport city ecosystems besides passenger-facing and other nonaeronautical businesses including ground handling, AAHL said.ET reported in May that Temasek and Alpha Wave Global were among four entities in talks to invest about $1.3 billion in Adani Airport at a valuation of around $18 billion.AAHL is the holding company of the airport vertical and is a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises (AEL). The transaction follows AEL’s successful Rs 15,000 crore qualified institutional placement in July 2026.“India’s aviation sector is one of the most powerful multipliers of the country’s GDP growth. Every expansion in air connectivity catalyses trade, tourism, employment and regional development well beyond the airport gate,” said Jeet Adani, non-executive director at AAHL. “With the backing of these partners, we will continue to invest ahead of that growth, scaling our infrastructure, cityside developments and non-aeronautical businesses.”Also Read: Delhi HC refuses to quash criminal case against Supertech executivesThe valuation is being set against a business that has grown passenger traffic and commercial revenue. AAHL reported total income of Rs 13,081 crore in FY26, up 28% from Rs 10,224 crore in FY25.Ebitda rose 55% to Rs 5,394 crore, while profit before tax was Rs 1,427 crore compared with a loss of Rs 5 crore a year earlier. That translates to an Ebitda multiple of about 31.7 times. AAHL generated about Rs 6,401 crore of non-aeronautical revenue in FY26. Non-aero income per passenger rose 30% year-on-year to Rs 672.The company’s eight airports handled 95.3 million passengers in FY26, up from 94.4 million in FY25. They accounted for about 24% of India’s passenger traffic. Aircraft movements stood at 619,000 and cargo volumes rose 7% to 1.17 million tonnes. A large part of the growth case is the company’s push into non-aeronautical revenue, which includes duty-free, food and beverage, retail, lounges, parking and advertising.“The higher valuation is also because Adani Airport has higher revenue potential per passenger in India, especially from non-aeronautical businesses,” a person familiar with the company said. “The big opportunity is on the city side, with revenue coming from duty-free, food and beverage, retail, IP-led businesses and hotels, rather than just airport charges.”Jefferies, SBI Capital Markets and Ernst & Young LLP were the advisors in the transaction.Adani Airport Holdings is developing commercial real estate around its airports. Its first phase of airport city development covers about 22 million sq ft and involves about 600 acres, according to a person familiar with the plans. The group has previously outlined an investment of about Rs 20,000 crore for the first phase of its non-aeronautical and city-side development.The company expects these businesses to add another source of revenue to its airport portfolio. Individual non-aero businesses could eventually generate around $100 million each, the person said.Navi Mumbai International Airport ,has an initial annual capacity of 20 million passengers. The airport is expected to add capacity as traffic builds and further phases are developed.The $18 billion pre-money valuation puts AAHL below Aena, which has a market capitalisation of about $44.1 billion, and Airports of Thailand, at about $28.5 billion, according to Bloomberg data as on Wednesday.Aéroports de Paris has a market value of about $13.1 billion.