Global fund managers like Morgan Stanley, SBI Macquarie Infrastructure Fund, Uniquest Infra Ventures are showing interest to invest in the country’s road sector following the positive policy gestures.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is urging government to allow developers to offload equity as soon as a project is completed. The change is being pushed in a way that it will also impact projects awarded before 2009, when the rules were last changed to allow for stake sale immediately after completion.
Now, the highway developers are awaiting the final guidelines before going ahead with the transactions. It will not only free up capital for Indian developers but increase overseas participation.
In addition, the Indian players will have resources to bid for new projects and help revive interest in the sector, reports indicate.
Uniquest Infra Ventures, the joint venture between Malaysian government sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad and IDFC alone has expressed interest in buying stake in nearly a dozen road projects.
Similarly, SBI Macquarie Infrastructure Fund has discussed the possibility of investing up to Rs 20,000 crore in projects that are nearing completion.
According to reports, Morgan Stanley is in talks for buying into KMC Constructions, which is getting all its road projects under one company. Morgan Stanley is also buying a 15 percent stake in the Surat Hazira project.
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