With this, three highway assets of the IRB Infrastructure Trust, located in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan, have now become part of the IRB InvIT Fund’s asset portfolio.
IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd (IRBL), India’s largest multinational transport infrastructure developer in the highways sector, announced late Thursday that its sponsored IRB InvIT Fund has completed the acquisition of three highway assets with an enterprise value of ₹84.36 billion. The acquisition has been made from the IRB Infrastructure Trust, a private InvIT sponsored by the company.
Commenting on the development, Virendra D Mhaiskar, Chairman & Managing Director, IRBL, said, “The successful conclusion of this acquisition deal between the two InvITs marks a significant value enhancement to all the stakeholders of the IRB Group. The unlocked capital of ₹49.05 billion through this acquisition deal will enable us to pursue upcoming opportunities in the sector worth over ₹150 billion, further strengthening the group’s development pipeline and growth prospects to achieve the ₹1.4 trillion mark in the next three years.”
Mhaiskar credited the strong response from the marquee global and domestic investors in support of the deal as a testament to the trust and credibility built by the IRB Group over the last three decades. He said that the successful conclusion of the deal establishes their InvIT platform as a transparent and scalable vehicle for long-term infrastructure investment.
“With the win-win situation achieved out of this deal, now both InvITs are well positioned to enhance their respective project portfolios, strengthen distributions, and create sustainable value for their unitholders.”
With this, three highway assets of the IRB Infrastructure Trust, namely Hapur-Moradabad NH-9 (Uttar Pradesh), Kaithal-Rajasthan Border NH-152/65 (Haryana) and Kishangarh-Gulabpura NH-79A (Rajasthan), have now become part of the assets portfolio of the IRB InvIT Fund.
The IRB InvIT Fund will have a project portfolio of nine revenue-generating highway assets, including eight build-operate-transfer (BOT) assets and one hybrid annuity mode (HAM) asset of more than 4,200 operational lane km and an enterprise value of more than ₹160 billion. The weighted average concession life of the assets under the IRB InvIT Fund will now be around 17 years, from the existing 14 years.
To facilitate this landmark acquisition, the company-sponsored IRB InvIT fund had undertaken the fundraising exercise, the first one since its launch and listing in 2017, for the acquisition of three assets of IRB Infrastructure Trust, with an enterprise value of ₹84.36 billion.