Vertis InvIT weighs public listing to tap deeper domestic capital pools

Backed by KKR and OTPP, Vertis InvIT is evaluating a shift to a publicly listed structure as domestic institutional demand, liquidity and regulatory support reshape India's InvIT market

Vertis Infrastructure Trust, an infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) backed by global investment firm KKR and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, is evaluating a shift from a privately listed structure to a publicly listed InvIT, with initial discussions around an initial public offering underway, amid rising domestic investor participation, improving liquidity and evolving regulatory norms in India’s infrastructure investment landscape.

 

Why is Vertis InvIT considering a public listing?

 

“There is internal deliberation underway on converting the InvIT from a privately listed structure to a publicly listed one,” Gaurav Chandna, executive director and joint chief executive officer of Vertis InvIT, told Business Standard. “We do see significant advantages in being publicly listed, but we are currently evaluating whether to proceed and, if so, what the appropriate time frame should be.”

 

Chandna said the consideration to go public is driven less by retail demand and more by the growing depth of domestic institutional capital, which is critical for large issuances requiring “anchor-like” investors capable of committing Rs 150–200 crore.

 

What is driving domestic investor interest in InvITs?

 

Demand from domestic institutions, family offices and high net worth individuals has strengthened as investors increasingly view InvITs and real estate investment trusts (Reits) as a hedge against equity market volatility, particularly amid weaker equity performance, foreign capital outflows and currency depreciation.

 

He described this as a secular shift, noting that domestic investors now account for about 70 per cent of demand in recent IPOs, reversing earlier trends and mirroring developments in the InvIT space. Trading activity in InvITs, he added, has emerged as a key barometer of this rising participation.

 

How have regulatory changes affected InvIT liquidity?

 

The move comes as trading activity in InvITs has picked up sharply following regulatory changes by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, including a reduction in trading lot size for privately placed InvITs to Rs 25 lakh and improved price discovery on exchanges.

 

Chandna said liquidity in privately listed InvITs has strengthened meaningfully, with around Rs 8,000 crore of secondary trading recorded so far in FY26. Vertis alone accounted for nearly one-third of this, with block deals worth about Rs 2,800 crore.

 

What are the growth prospects for private InvIT capital inflows?

 

Chandna expects annual capital inflows into private InvITs, currently estimated at Rs 7,000–10,000 crore, to potentially rise to Rs 25,000–50,000 crore over the next few years.

 

According to ratings agency Icra, trading volumes in public InvITs rose 128.23 per cent over the last two years, reflecting growing investor confidence in yield-generating assets. Volumes increased from 27.35 crore units in FY23 to 62.42 crore units in FY25. Traded value grew 115.53 per cent over the same period, from Rs 2,840 crore to Rs 6,121 crore, while market capitalisation rose 4 per cent year on year in 2025 to Rs 28,776 crore.

 

What assets does Vertis InvIT manage?

 

Vertis currently manages assets worth around Rs 26,000 crore, evenly split across hybrid annuity model projects, toll projects and the National Highways Authority of India’s toll-operate-transfer 16 project.

 

The InvIT aims to maintain a balanced mix of annuity and toll assets, based on transaction-level risk-reward considerations. “Annuity assets provide stability to cash flows, while toll assets offer upside if traffic outperforms,” Chandna said, adding that growth will not come at the expense of returns.

 

How has Vertis performed since launch?

 

Since its launch in August 2022, Vertis has distributed nearly 51 per cent of investor capital, translating into annualised distributions of about 16–17 per cent. Chandna attributed this to disciplined asset selection and its “white-labelled” structure, under which assets are acquired directly into the InvIT, aligning risk and reward across unit holders.

 

Traffic across the portfolio has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 6.5 per cent between 2019 and September 2025, outperforming the national average. The assets are concentrated in industrial clusters, tourist corridors and high-density urban markets, with a weighted average residual concession period of around 14.5 years.

 

What is the outlook for InvITs and regulatory changes?

 

Chandna believes InvITs and Reits are poised to emerge as meaningful capital-raising platforms, eventually rivaling the scale of some global infrastructure funds. While performance will vary, platforms with strong execution and governance will face no cap on capital inflows.

 

He also termed Sebi’s move to expand the scope of strategic investors for InvITs “a good step”, though the extent of demand from this segment remains to be seen, given associated restrictions.

 

On Sebi’s decision to classify Reits, but not InvITs, as equity instruments, Chandna said that while InvITs and Reits are broadly similar, structural differences make equity classification for InvITs more complex. Unlike Reits, which are fewer in number, uniformly focused on commercial real estate and publicly listed, InvITs, around 27 in number, are largely privately listed and span diverse sectors such as roads, warehousing, energy, telecom and optical fibre, with wide variation in size and asset profiles. “Any move to reclassify InvITs as equity instruments would therefore require a more nuanced approach and is likely to take time, if it happens at all.”

 

What lies ahead for road monetisation and Vertis?

 

Looking ahead, Chandna expects Vertis to remain acquisitive, supported by the government’s push on infrastructure spending and asset monetisation. A sizeable pipeline of expressways is expected to come up for monetisation under the toll-operate-transfer and InvIT frameworks over the next few years, with competition in the secondary asset market remaining balanced.

 

Icra has projected road monetisation of Rs 35,000–40,000 crore in FY26 if National Highways Authority of India assets are monetised in a timely manner, based on a median valuation multiple of 0.62 times across the 10 toll-operate-transfer bundles awarded over the last three years. This would take cumulative road monetisation to around Rs 1.3 trillion, up from Rs 24,399 crore in FY25 and above the FY26 budgeted target of Rs 30,000 crore.

 

According to the Bharat InvITs Association, total assets under management of listed InvITs, public and private, stood at Rs 7 trillion as of September 2025 and are expected to reach Rs 21 trillion by 2030. Assets under management have grown over 1,000 per cent in the last five years, with a 16.5 per cent increase in the past year alone.

 

InvITs have distributed over Rs 78,000 crore since inception, including Rs 10,000 crore in the first two quarters of FY26. Market capitalisation stood at Rs 2.6 trillion as of Q2 FY26, while the number of unitholders rose to 3.7 lakh, up from 2.8 lakh as of March 31, 2025.