Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- GMR Infrastructure Ltd., operator of the New Delhi airport, rose in Mumbai after selling $1 billion of shares to 49 investors including George Soros and Citigroup Inc. to build roads and airports in India.

The company's stock gained 0.2 percent to 243.6 rupees at the close on the Bombay Stock Exchange today, after climbing as much as 4.9 percent. The benchmark Sensitive index slid 1.3 percent to 20,104.39, losing gains in the afternoon.

``Some big investors have been attracted by the company's growth and the large number of orders it may win,'' said R.K. Gupta, who manages the equivalent of $100 million at Credit Capital Asset Management Ltd. in New Delhi and owns 81,000 GMR shares. ``The play is on infrastructure.''

The sale will allow Soros, T. Rowe Price Group Inc., Citigroup, ICICI Bank Ltd. and the other investors to benefit from an expected $500 billion investment by the Indian government in roads, ports and bridges to reach a 10 percent economic growth rate by 2012. GMR shares more than tripled this year, compared with a 48 percent gain in the Sensitive index.

``We'll be able to double our asset base as a result, our market cap will go up,'' said Madhu Terdal, GMR's executive vice president, said in a phone interview in Mumbai today. GMR plans to add assets in three years to 520 billion rupees ($13 billion), he said.

The company didn't provide the size of the individual stakes.

Second Terminal

GMR sold 165.2 million shares at 240 rupees each, at a discount to the closing price of 243.2 rupees on the Bombay Stock Exchange yesterday. The sale accounted for 9.07 percent of the company's equity and will cut the founders' stake to 73.3 percent from 80.7 percent, while pushing up the holding of overseas investors to 13.3 percent.

``There's value in the stock and I will stay invested,'' Credit Capital's Gupta said.

GMR plans to use proceeds from the stake sale to more than quadruple its power-generation capacity to 3,500 megawatts, and a second terminal at the Sabiha Gokcen International Airport in Istanbul, Turkey. It may also buy coal mines in Indonesia and South Africa, construct roads locally and overseas and build a special trade zone.

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wants to emulate neighboring China, which invests about $150 billion in public works each year. China's economy expanded 11.5 percent last quarter.

GMR plans to spend about 10 billion rupees to build a special trade zone in the southern Indian province of Tamil Nadu and invest an equal amount each in coal- and water-based power plants. It will also spend another 10 billion rupees to build roads in India and overseas.

``We are also examining the options for nuclear energy and have formed a core group within the company,'' Terdal said. ``We may seek a foreign partner.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Gautam Chakravorthy in Mumbai at chakravorthy@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 13, 2007 05:24 EST