Canada pension fund's Indian arm acquires Peripheral Expressway

Maple Highways, a dedicated India road investment platform of Canada-based pension fund CDPQ, said on Friday it had completed the Rs 6,267-crore acquisition of the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) that encircles the National Capital Region (NCR).

The purchase of the Toll Operate Transfer (TOT) project from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is the largest road transaction under the government's asset monetisation programme this year.

Saurabh Agarwal, managing director, CDPQ India told Business Standard that the concessionaire agreement is for 20 years, after which, the road asset would be given back to the government. He said Maple Highways has so far acquired $1 billion of road infrastructure out of $40 billion available in the market. Earlier, it completed the acquisition of the Shree Jagannath Expressway, a 67-kilometre toll road project from Bhubaneswar to Chandikhol, in Odisha.

The 135-km, six-lane express highway has been operational since 2018 and was designed to decongest Delhi of commercial traffic. It runs through Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, down the eastern side of the NCR.

CDPQ is the second-largest institutional investor in infrastructure globally, with net assets of CAD 45 billion in its infrastructure portfolio, including in India.

Agarwal said India remains a strategically important market for CDPQ given the country’s long-term growth potential and infrastructure needs.

Last year, the government had announced Rs six trillion asset monetisation pipeline for FY'22 to FY'25. Of this, roads were to fetch Rs 1.6 trillion to the government.

CPPIB bets on India infra

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) ended its second quarter of FY23 on September 30,  with net assets of $529 billion, compared to $523 billion at the end of the previous quarter. The Canadian firm committed Rs 1,850 crore to the first close of Kotak Infrastructure Investment Fund.  Dev Chatterjee