GIC affiliates complete sale of units worth $704 mn in IRB Infra Trust to Ferrovial's Cintra

The secondary stake purchase was worth around $796 million as per a stock exchange filing by IRB

A clutch of affiliates of Singapore investment giant GIC completed the sale of units worth $704 million in IRB Infrastructure Trust to Ferrovial's subsidiary Cintra on June 13, multiple industry sources in the know told Moneycontrol.

The sale is part of a transaction, announced by IRB Infrastructure on March 14 , when Cintra, a unit of Spanish infrastructure developer Ferrovial, agreed to buy a 24 percent stake in IRB Infrastructure Trust from GIC, along with a similar stake in MMK Toll Road Pvt Ltd, the investment manager of the trust.

The secondary stake purchase was worth around $796 million as per a stock exchange filing by IRB. It received the CCI ( Competition Commission of India) approval recently on June 4.

IRB Infrastructure Trust is a privately placed InvIT( infrastructure trust) which listed on the NSE in April 2023 and is sponsored by leading private transport infrastructure developer IRB Infrastructure Developers.

" Its a big trade which took place earlier today at an offer price of Rs 220.22/unit , which is a 9.6 per cent premium to the adjusted price of Rs 200.90/unit," said one of the persons above.

Anahera Investment Pte Ltd, Dagenham Investment Pte Ltd and Stretford End Investment Pte Ltd are the selling entities, this person added.

A second person also confirmed the above and added that Kotak Securities was the advisor on the transaction.

Both the persons spoke to Moneycontrol on the condition of anonymity.

Moneycontrol could not elicit an immediate comment from GIC and Kotak Securities, while Cintra and IRB Infra declined to comment.

Interestingly, on June 10, Ferrovial subsidiary Cintra had launched a block trade to sell around 5 per cent stake for $228 million in publicly listed IRB Infrastructure Developers. Moneycontrol was the first to report the development.

On listing in April 2023, IRB Infra Trust become the first Private InvIT listed on the National Stock Exchange after the regulator SEBI’s guidelines on listing framework for non-listed InvITs came into force .

As per disclosures on the day of listing, IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd had a stake of 51 per cent and 49 per cent was held by GIC affiliates.

As per its website, IRB Infra Trust has 14 highway assets with 9,789 lane kilometres in the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Goa, Karnataka, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, which are being managed in pursuant to concessions granted by the National Highways Authority of India. The projects under the Trust have concessions varying between 17 to 29 years, the April disclosure added.