FCC

KKR to acquire 12 road projects from PNC for $1.1B

2023-06-19

Highways Infrastructure Trust, KKR's road platform, is in negotiations to purchase a portfolio of 12 road projects from PNC Infratech, a construction company located in Agra, for an enterprise value of around Rs 90 billion (about $1.1 billion), according to two people familiar with the situation. If the sale goes through, it will mark the US-based private equity firm's (PE) largest acquisition of road projects in India.

Eleven hybrid annuity model (HAM) roads and one build-operate-transfer (BOT) road are included in the portfolio up for sale. These projects are spread out over Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh. There were four bidders for the PNC portfolio. The company has gone ahead with KKR and the PE firm has recently started due diligence on the assets. The portfolio has an enterprise value of around ₹90 billion, with debt of around ₹69 billion.

Seven of the 12 road projects are already operational while the remaining are expected to become operational in the next three-four months. This is one of the biggest portfolio of roads on sale in the market currently.

The construction company HG Infra Engineering will sell four HAM projects to Highways Infrastructure Trust, an infrastructure investment trust (InvIT), for an enterprise value of Rs. 13.94 billion. According to a story in April's edition of ET, KKR had signed contracts to buy a 100% equity position in the Hyderabad-based Navayuga group's toll road, the Navayuga Udupi Tollway, for an estimated $924 million.

In 2021, KKR made its first investment in Indian roads when it bought out Global Infrastructure Partners' whole stake in the 487 km of Highway Concessions One (HC1) properties. Seven states—Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana—are included in the HC1 road portfolio. 5 toll roads and 2 annuity roads made up the portfolio.

The Jodhpur Pali Expressway, Godhra Expressways, Dewas Bhopal Corridor, Ulundurpet Expressways, Normal BOT, and Shillong Expressway are among the assets housed under the KKR roadways InvIT. The Indian road sector has seen a surge in deal activity as foreign investors look for long-term yield-generating infrastructure assets and developers attempt to monetize their operating road projects to reduce debt and reinvest funds in new projects.