Bain Capital is buying the world's largest sea plane fleet operator, Trans Maldivian Airways (TMA), from Blackstone for around $500 million to cash in on booming high-end leisure travellers flocking to the Indian Ocean archipelago. 

Bain has roped in Chinese conglomerate Tempus Group, which runs businesses including tour operator Shenzhen Tempus Global Travel Holdings and TBRJ Funds, as a partners for the acquisition. 

The two sides signed the agreement on Sunday. ET broke the story in it's website on Monday morning hours before a formal announcement. 

Once completed, this will be the biggest exit by Blackstone across Asia, giving the private-equity firm a 4.8-fold return on a four-year investment. Its India team used to manage this investment. 

"TMA is well-positioned to capture the growing tourism demand in the Maldives. Leveraging Bain Capital Private Equity's successful track record in the leisure industry, we look forward to working with the current management team, employees and customers of TMA to continue to grow and support the industry." said Jonathan Zhu, MD, Bain Capital Private Equity said. 

Blackstone had acquired control of two seaplane operators, Maldivian Air Taxi and Trans Maldivian Airways, in 2013 for $98 million and subsequently combined the two. It currently operates 48 aircraft, carrying 9.6 hundred thousand passengers in 1.2 hundred thousand flights annually. 

The fleet picks up tourists from Male's Velana International Airport and ferries them to 60-plus resorts that are scattered around the nearly 1190 coral islands that together make up the island nation. 

"We were able to apply our expertise as operators to help Trans Maldivian expand and grow into one of the largest companies into the Maldives and the world's largest seaplane operator." - Amit Dixit, Head of Blackstone Private Equity in India added.

The sea planes have slender pontoons or floats, mounted under the fuselage, which helps them land on and take off from water. 

HSBC is an adviser to the transaction. 

The Maldives has attracted investment from Chinese online travel agencies and private equity firms seeking to cater to Chinese holidaymakers, who account for the largest group of arrivals in the archipelago known for its pristine blue lagoons, white beaches, ring shaped atolls and extensive reefs. The Maldives is one of the few countries where Chinese tourists are automatically issued a visa on arrival. 

Last year, the total number of tourists to the islands reached 1.29 million, compared with a population of fewer than 400,000, according to government data. 

Boston-headquartered Bain has been putting its dollars behind consumer, luxury and leisure transactions around the world and also in Asia in recent years. In 2015, it invested $422 million to buy Japanese hot springs, spa and hotel operator Ooedo-Onsen Holdings, a move to capitalise on a tourism boom in the country ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. A year earlier it also joined hands with British billionaire Richard Branson to start Virgin Voyages cruise lines in the Caribbean. 

In India, Bain has largely been focussing on financial services and industrials in companies like L&T Finance and Hero MotoCorp having recently made the largest PE transaction deploying $1.2 billion in Axis Bank, the country's third largest private lender. Its only consumer retail-focussed bet, Lilliput, was a write off.