IRB Infrastructure files for $650 million IPO for investment unit

MUMBAI (Reuters) - IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd said it has filed an application for an initial public offering of its infrastructure investment trust to raise up to 43 billion rupees ($647.20 million).

The IPO would be India's first listing of an infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) unveiled in 2014 rules that provided a regulatory framework to set up and list these structures.

The IRB InvIT Fund would seek to raise the funds through the sale of existing and new shares in the fund, IRB Infrastructure said in a regulatory filing on Thursday.

InvITs allow infrastructure developers to offer returns to investors from their assets, but questions about taxation and regulations have led to a slow adoption in India.

($1 = 66.4400 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Rafael Nam; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri)