A group of high-net-worth investors led by Kairus Shavak Dadachanji, the chairman of Dadachanji Group of Companies, has invested Rs 177 crore ($21.4 million) in Shrem Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT).
Dadachanji and other investors bought a total of 15.6 million shares in the InvIT at Rs 114 per unit from Shrem Infra Structure Pvt Ltd, the sponsor of the InvIT, through open market transactions on Monday.
Of this, Dadachanji alone bought 9 million units for about Rs 102 crore. This is the third time Dadachanji is investing in Shrem InvIT. Following the latest investment, he now owns 5% of the units of the InvIT.
He had made his second investment into the InvIT in November last year when he bought 15 million units at Rs 104 per unit. This increased his ownership interest to 4.6% with the total investment at Rs 156 crore back then. The latest transaction effectively means that Dadachanji has so far invested Rs 258 crore into the InvIT.
Shrem InvIT was registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India in February 2021 and is led by chairman Nitan Chhatwal, holds 28 highway assets that are spread across nine states in India. The total lane kilometers of the portfolio is approximately 10,000 kilometers.
The latest transaction comes a month after the board of Shrem Financial Pvt. Ltd, the investment manager of the InvIT, approved issuing units worth Rs 1,500 crore to Dilip Buildcon Ltd and units worth Rs 450 crore to Shrem Enterprises Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of Shrem Infra.
The issuance of units was part of a broader transaction, signed last year, involving Shrem InvIT's purchase of 10 road projects from Mumbai-listed highway developer Dilip Buildcon. The InvIT completed the acquisition of four projects in November 2022 and intends to complete the purchase of the remaining assets this month.
Mumbai-based Dadachanji Group has business interests in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, packaging, medical devices, robotics and sterile processing sectors.