The Highways Infrastructure Trust (HIT), an infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) owned by KKR, has acquired four road assets from Macquarie India for Rs 3,000 crore.
The Economic Times reported this development adding that previously, Adani Road Transport had planned to acquire the assets for Rs 3,100 crore. However, it canceled the deal due to “unsatisfactory conditions.”
HIT will now take over Gujarat Road & Infrastructure (GRICL) and Swarna Tollway (STPL), each owning two toll roads.
GRICL’s toll roads are located in Gujarat, spanning the Ahmedabad-Mehsana stretch on SH-41 and the Vadodara-Halol stretch on SH-87 within the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor. STPL’s assets are in Andhra Pradesh, encompassing the Tada-Nellore stretch on NH-16 and the Nandigama-Ibrahimpatnam-Vijayawada stretch on NH-65, providing feeder traffic to NH16.
With KKR holding an 89.99% stake in HIT, it is set to win a 316-km-long highway asset under the ToT 12 auction by the National Highways Authority of India. Currently, HIT’s portfolio comprises six road assets totaling over 450 km, and after completing the recent acquisitions, it will have about 15 roads aggregating approximately 1,000 km.
According to ICRA, FY24 is projected to witness a 16-21% increase in road execution activity, with toll collections expected to grow by 6-9%, supported by a 4-5% rise in traffic.
