Two of India’s biggest private road operators KKR-backed Vertis Infrastructure Trust and Cube Highways Trust, sponsored by I Squared Capital, want to be publicly listed entities and are looking at initial public offerings (IPO), people aware of the development have said.
The conversion to a public InvIT is being pursued to tap a wider pool of investors to meet growth capital requirements. The move comes amid a rising demand for high-yield generating assets such as InvITs from domestic investors such as family offices and high net-worth individuals (HNIs) as well as domestic institutional investors, including corporate treasuries, the sources said.
As part of the process, Vertis Infrastructure and Cube Highways plan to launch IPOs, which are likely to raise around Rs 4,000-5,000 crore each.
Both InvITs are in talks with investment banks and law firms and are expected to soon appoint advisers for their respective share sales, the source said.
“The demand for products such as InvITs has seen a sharp rise among domestic investors. Several of these private InvITs have done secondary block trades or qualified institutional placements, where huge participation has been witnessed from family offices and HNIs,” said one of the people cited.
As interest rates in the United States and other developed markets remain high, foreign institutional investors are finding yields from Indian infrastructure assets less attractive than those in the United States and Europe. “So, to compensate for this reduced demand from overseas institutions, more and more InvITs are considering converting to a public structure to tap a bigger pool of investors, especially domestic ones,” the source added.
While KKR declined to comment, an email sent to Cube Highways had not elicited a response till the time of publication.
Public and private InvITs
InvITs, which hold infrastructure assets such as toll roads, renewable projects or transmission lines, are yield-generating investment vehicles, which distribute the cash flows from the underlying projects to shareholders.
SEBI says InvITs can either be “public” or “private” InvIT.
The units of private InvITs are also listed on a stock exchange but since they are closely held by a few investors, they are not traded daily. They also have fewer disclosure norms to follow compared to their “public” counterparts.
Most private equity firms have, so far, taken the private InvIT route, given the lighter regulation. But given the changing demand scenario, firms are now changing strategy in favour of public InvITs.
India has only three publicly traded InvITs — IRB InvIT Fund, sponsored by construction firm IRB Infrastructure Developers, India Grid Trust, backed by KKR, and Powergrid Infrastructure Trust sponsored by state-owned Power Grid Corporation.
Cube highways portfolio
The Cube InvIT is backed by a diversified investor base, including I Squared Capital, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Canadian pension fund manager British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, and Abu Dhabi’s sovereign investor Mubadala Investment Company.
Its assets under management (AUM) grew to Rs 32,266 crore as of March 31, 2025, a 25 percent year-over-year growth. With its recent acquisition of two road projects from NIIF, the trust’s assets are expected to grow to Rs 36,451 crore.
In FY25, Cube InvIT declared an annualised yield of 11.45 percent. Its roads portfolio comprises 27 assets spanning 8,819 lane kilometres.
Vertis Infrastructure portfolio
The KKR trust, previously known as Highways Infrastructure Trust, has a portfolio of assets worth Rs 25,000 crore, comprising 27 project covering 8,100 lane kilometres across 10 states.
In 2024, it signed an agreement to acquire 12 road projects from PNC Infratech Limited for an enterprise value of Rs 9,005 crore.
Canadian pension fund manager Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is the second biggest shareholder in Vertis after KKR.
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