Three bidders in race to acquire RInfra road projects for Rs 6,000 crore

Three bidders are in the race to acquire eight road projects of Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra), an Anil Ambani company, at an enterprise valuation of Rs 6,000 crore.

Bankers said the talks are at an advanced stage with Macquarie Group, Cube Highways and Kotak Alternate Asset Managers and the sale of the entire road portfolio of RInfra is expected by this month end.
 

If the talks are successful, the transaction will result in RInfra’s consolidated debt coming down by over 40 per cent from Rs 14,500 crore as of March to around Rs 8,500 crore. 

The projects for sale are: 88.27 km Trichy-Dindigul road, 136.36 km road between Salem and Ulundurpet, 66.18 km Gurgaon-Faridabad road, 79.95 km Trichy-Karur, 54 km Dindigul-Samayanallur, 60 km Hosur-Krishnagiri, 140 km four-lane road project between Pune and Satara and the 33.48 km Namakkal-Karur highway project.

RInfra declined to comment. Emails sent to Macquarie, Cube Highways and Kotak Alternate Asset also did not elicit any response.

Macquarie AsiaPacific Infrastructure Fund is part of the Macquarie Asset Management with over $125-billion assets under management (AUM). Cube Highways and Infrastructure is backed by ISqaured Capital, a $40-billion global fund.

Kotak Alternate Asset Managers has alternate asset business and raised, advised or managed over $8.8 billion from a diverse set of domestic and international investors. These are across multiple assets classes such as real estate, private equity, special situations, infrastructure and investment advisory.

In January 2021, RInfra had announced the completion of sale of its Delhi-Agra toll road to Cube Highways and Infrastructure for Rs 3,600 crore. The entire sale proceeds were utilised for debt reduction.