Adani-Backed Indian Airport Retailer Rebrands To Ospree In Quest For Global Shopping Empire

03.04.2024 - 14:35 / forbes.com

The CEO of India’s Mumbai Travel Retail Pvt Ltd (MTRPL) expects to take to the global stage now that it has a new corporate branding: Ospree. The move pulls together the company’s disparate duty-free operations at seven airports in India and will make it easier to bid for contracts globally.

The rebrand integrates all of MTRPL’s airport duty-free businesses led by Mumbai, the company’s flagship location with a growing reputation for whisky retailing; as well as Ahmedabad; Amritsar; Jaipur; Lucknow; Mangalore; and Thiruvananthapuram.

The new name, Ospree, is also easier for potential concession partners to understand in terms of both storytelling and for MTRPL to define its strategy in the global duty-free shopping arena. The name is derived from two words: the migratory osprey bird of prey that has adapted to living in all continents (except Antarctica); and spree, which describes a big shopping expedition.

MTRPL’s expansion ambitions are backed by big financial muscle. The company is owned, through joint venture, by one of India’s biggest listed conglomerates, infrastructure group Adani (with a majority share), controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani; and Flemingo Travel Retail, a duty-free company operating in 137 locations in 26 countries through airport stores, diplomatic stores, and UN Commissary services, among others.

In the just-published Forbes 2024 Billionaires List, Gautam Adani is ranked 17^th with $84 billion, second behind Mukesh Ambani among India’s now 200-strong billionaires.

Adani’s airport unit—Adani Airport Holdings Limited (AAHL)—also became the biggest airport operator in India in mid-2021 when it took a majority stake in Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International. This has helped MTRPL’s expansion in the Indian travel retail sector; apart from Amritsar, where operations started in January 2024, the rest of the retailer’s airport locations are owned by AAHL and all seven will be rebranded Ospree in due course.

The retailer has now won its first concession outside India with a deal to run the duty-free business at Eurotunnel’s French terminal in Coquelles near Calais in France. Eurotunnel is the operator (until 2086) of the Channel Tunnel infrastructure through which LeShuttle freight and passenger services (on cars and coaches) run between Folkestone in the U.K., and Calais. Eurotunnel was awarded its concession by the British and French governments on March 14, 1986.

Eurotunnel gave the contract to Le Marché Duty-Free, a subsidiary of MTRPL, in mid-March following an open tender process that started in September 2023. The award was made before Ospree was established so it is unlikely the name will be used when the business is handed over from the incumbent Avolta at the