IRB Infra ties up Rs 981 cr from lenders for Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway section

IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd (IRB Infra) said Thursday it has tied up Rs 981 crore finances from lenders for a project to widen a section of Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway.

The support from National Highways Authority of India for the project will be Rs 817 crore while the equity contribution from the company will be Rs 245 crore.

"IRB Infra has achieved the third financial closure through its SPV, VK1 Expressway Private Ltd, in a span of just 20 days for its third HAM (hybrid annuity mode) project" for 8 laning of 23.40 km section of Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway, IRB Infra said in a statement.

This has come after two successive financial closures for two HAM projects achieved at the end of September 2018 for its projects in South India, it said.

IRB Infra Chairman & Managing Director Virendra D Mhaiskar stressed that the company achieving financial closures for all three projects under HAM within a span of almost 20-21 days demonstrate lenders "high trust" in their domain expertise, execution capabilities and financial discipline demonstrated over last 20 years.

VK1 Expressway Private Limited is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) of IRB Infra formed to undertake the construction and management of the eight-laning project of 23.40 km section between Padra and Vadodara.

IRB Infra had bagged three projects under Hybrid Annuity Model in March 2018.

Of these three, the first two - Puducherry to Poondiyankuppam (38 Kms) and Poondiyankuppam to Sattanathpuram (56.80 Kms) have achieved financial closure at the Bid Project Cost at the end of September 2018 on two consecutive days, the company said.

With the third financial closure achieved, IRB Infra has financially closed all its HAM projects, it added.