MUMBAI :
Personal fairness investor Actis, Canada Pension Plan Funding Board (CPPIB) and I Squared Capital-backed roads operator Dice Highways are within the final lap of negotiations to purchase Peak Infrastructure, a portfolio of operational street belongings owned by Canadian investor Brookfield, three individuals conscious of the event mentioned. The portfolio of 5 street belongings is predicted to fetch an enterprise worth of $1.2-1.5 billion, they added.
Brookfield entered India’s highways sector in 2015, buying roads from Gammon Infrastructure Tasks Ltd. Later, it additionally acquired street belongings from Hyderabad-based KMC Constructions.
“There was a powerful curiosity within the Brookfield-owned roads. Round 8-10 bidders had proven curiosity within the non-binding provide spherical. From these, CPPIB, Actis and Dice have been shortlisted,” mentioned one of many three individuals cited above, all of whom spoke below situation of anonymity. CPPIB is bidding for the portfolio by IndInfravit, an infrastructure funding belief (InvIT) backed by the Canadian pension fund, this particular person added.
Brookfield and CPPIB declined to remark. Emails despatched to Actis and Dice Highways remained unanswered until press time.
The 5 street stretches comprise a 99.5-km part of the Mumbai-Nashik Expressway; a 183.6-km part on NH-5; a 188.8-km part of NH-18 in Andhra Pradesh; the 32.3-km Gorakhpur bypass in Uttar Pradesh; and a ten.6-km four-lane bridge over the river Kosi in Bihar.
India’s infrastructure sector, and the roads sector, specifically, has witnessed main curiosity from overseas traders chasing greater yields when they’re at historic lows within the developed markets, mentioned the second particular person cited above.
“World traders who wish to write massive cheques are discovering India’s infrastructure sector a really promising alternative and, thus, meaningful-sized portfolios akin to these and others are seeing loads of curiosity from traders. Toll and annuity roads match completely into the necessities of yield traders. Site visitors restoration after the preliminary restrictions throughout covid has additionally been very sturdy,” the particular person mentioned.
Mint reported on 23 September that Dice Highways, the biggest investor in street initiatives in India, is in talks with pension funds and sovereign wealth funds to lift as a lot as $1 billion by an infrastructure funding belief (InvIT), with Canada’s British Columbia Investments amongst people who have proven curiosity.
In November, the Nationwide Highways Authority of India (NHAI) mentioned that CPPIB and Ontario Lecturers’ Pension Plan can be the anchor traders of its first InvIT selecting up 25% fairness every. The NHAI InvIT raised a complete of ₹6,000-crore by the providing.
NHAI has additionally invited bids for 3 street packages below the so-called toll-operate-transfer scheme, which is geared toward monetizing its operational street initiatives.
Final month, Ashoka Buildcon mentioned its unit, Ashoka Concessions Ltd, has signed an settlement with KKR group entity Galaxy Investments II Pte. Ltd for promoting its stake in 5 BOT (build-operate-transfer) belongings for ₹1,337 crore.
Supply: Live Mint