No immediate plans on making NHAI InvIT public, says CEO Suresh Goyal

The National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) infrastructure investment trust has no immediate plan to allow retail investment in InvIT’s equity, said Suresh Goyal, chief executive officer of the trust, which has issued bonds to encourage retail investment.

Goyal told a press conference on Thursday that deliberations are on with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to make private-listed InvIT public. A decision on whether and when to make the transition would take time.

The trust issued non-convertible debentures (NCDs) worth Rs 1500 crore, allowing investors to invest a minimum of Rs 10,000 at a 7.9 per cent coupon rate, with returns beginning from the eighth year. The tenor of the bond is 25 years with an effective yield of 8.05 per cent, the management said.

The NCD issuance has a 25 per cent reservation for retail investors.

Union minister Nitin Gadkari said that the NCD issue, InvIT’s first, was done under the government’s vision to allow common citizens to benefit from infrastructural growth and get good returns.

The InvIT, which saw an infusion of Rs 6011 crore of capital from two Canadian institutional investors in the first issuance, the latest capital raising round worth Rs 1217 crore saw investment from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, State Bank of India, SBI Pension Fund, SBI Mutual Fund, IOCL Employee Provident Fund, L&T Staff Provident Fund, Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Karamchari Pension Fund, TATA AIG and Star Union Daiichi Life Insurance.

NHAI, as the InvIT’s sponsor, invested Rs 213 crore to maintain a 15 per cent unit-holding. The fundraise will help the trust acquire three road projects from NHAI at an enterprise value of Rs 3,800 crore.