National Highways Infra Trust raises additional ₹1,820 crore from Canada’s CPP Investments

The Canada Pension Plan Investment (CPP Investments) board announced on Tuesday, March 19, a follow-on investment of ₹18.2 billion (₹1,820 crore) in the National Highways Infra Trust (NHIT).

It is also known as NHAI InvIT, an infrastructure investment trust (InvIT), which is sponsored by the NHAI.

The investment is part of NHIT’s capital raised through institutional placement, which will be used to acquire seven brownfield toll roads. These toll roads are currently owned by NHAI as part of the Government of India’s National Monetisation Pipeline.

Following this investment, CPP Investments’ total investment in NHIT will rise to ₹36.8 billion (₹3,680 crore). The company, headquartered in Toronto, will continue to hold 25% of the units in NHIT, as per a release.

James Bryce, Managing Director, Head of Infrastructure, CPP Investments, said, ‘India remains a key market for CPP Investments and infrastructure is vital to the country’s economic growth. Our follow-on investment in NHIT deepens our commitment to this highly scalable platform, which has an important role to play in the continued expansion of the Indian road network.’

Bryce added, ‘We are confident that this investment will continue to deliver high-quality infrastructure across India while generating strong risk-adjusted returns for the CPP Fund.’

NHIT’s portfolio will increase from eight to 15 toll roads after it acquires toll roads from NHAI. After the completion of this transaction, NHIT’s total portfolio will be more than 1,500 km across nine Indian states: Assam, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana and West Bengal.

CPP Investments, a professional investment management organisation, manages the fund in the best interest of more than 22 million contributors and beneficiaries of the Canada Pension Plan. Its fund was valued at C$590.8 billion, as of December 31, 2023.

It makes investments around the world in public equities, private equities, real estate, infrastructure and fixed income to build diversified portfolios of assets.