Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) announced an equity investment of Rs 357.5 crore (C$60 million or US$43 million) in National Highways Infra Trust, an infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) sponsored by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
Following the current transaction, CPP Investments will continue to hold 25% of the units in NHAI InvIT, said a statement by CPP Investments, among the most active alternative investors in India’s real estate sector.
This investment, done through an institutional placement undertaken by NHAI InvIT, follows an initial C$257 million (around Rs 1,500 crore) investment in NHAI InvIT’s IPO in November 2021.
Proceeds from the institutional placement will be used to acquire three brownfield toll roads, currently owned by NHAI, a statutory authority set up in 1988 by the central government for developing, maintaining and managing national highways in India.
The acquisition will increase the size of NHAI InvIT’s portfolio from five to eight toll roads – all of which have been acquired from NHAI. The total portfolio now spans approximately 636 kilometers across seven Indian states: Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana.
“We have been an active investor in India’s infrastructure sector since 2014. This follow-on investment further deepens our commitment to the NHAI InvIT platform to acquire road projects across the country, ultimately delivering solid long-term returns for the CPP Fund,” said Scott Lawrence, managing director & global head of infrastructure, CPP Investments.
In April, CPP Investments partnered with Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd to form a 50:50 joint venture worth Rs 5,300 crore to develop commercial office space.
A month prior to that, CPPIB partnered with Bengaluru-based realty firm RMZ Corp committing to invest around Rs 2,650 crore (around $355 million) to develop and acquire commercial projects across India.
CPPIB has exposure to different asset classes in the Indian real estate market. Back in 2017, it had set up a platform with Mumbai-listed developer The Phoenix Mills for a play in India’s retail real estate market.
Headquartered in Toronto in Canada, CPP Investments manages a global portfolio in public equities, private equities, real estate, infrastructure and fixed income totaled at C$523 billion (US$378 billion or Rs 31.17 lakh crore) as on June 30, 2022.
The investment firm is governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and also has offices in Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, New York City, San Francisco, São Paulo and Sydney.
