National Highways Infrastructure Trust (NHIT), a registered infrastructure investment trust under the InvIT Regulations, sponsored by NHAI (an autonomous authority of the government of India) has filed its draft prospectus for a public issue of secured, rated, listed, redeemable, non-convertible debentures.
"The issue will be for an amount aggregating up to Rs 1,500 crore comprising of up to 15,000,000 NCDs (consisting of 15,000,000 STRPP A, 15,000,000 STRPP B and 15,000,000 STRPP C). The three STRPP will be of different face value, different maturity and shall be redeemable (i) at par; and (ii) in a staggered manner," NHIT informed in a press release.
It is proposed that the net proceeds be utilised for general corporate purposes, repayment of the NHIT bridge loan facility (if used, if any), and injection of debt into the Project SPV of NHIT. The infusion of cash will help the SPVs fulfill their contractual obligations and enable the project SPV to get the requisite concession rights.
The NCDs must be listed within six working days of the issue closing date, and the minimum subscription for a public debenture offering is 75 percent of the base issue amount.
Each of the three STRPPs that make up each NCD would be given its own trading lot, and the allocation would be done in a dematerialized fashion, the press release added further.
NHIT currently owns, operates and maintains a portfolio of 5 initial toll roads spanning around 389 km in the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Telangana, and Karnataka and intends to toll, operate and maintain 3 more toll roads spanning 246 km in the states of Telangana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh under the Toll Operate and Transfer model conceived by NHAI.
For the April-June quarter, the unit capital for the company stood at Rs 6,011.52 crore comprising 595.20 million units.
"Project SPV shall have the right to collect tolls for periods of 20 years or 30 years, as applicable under the relevant Concession Agreement. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has a consistent track record of growth and operational performance.
It has been entrusted with the National Highways Development Project which along with minor projects has vested in it 50,329 km of national highways for development, maintenance, and management,” added NHIT.
Among the many parties who may submit an application for the issue are retail individual investors, mutual funds, financial institutions, provident funds and pension funds, as well as High Net-worth Individuals (HNIs).
Lead managers for the issue are JM Financial Limited, A.K. Capital Services Ltd, ICICI Securities Ltd, SBI Capital Markets Ltd, and Trust Investment Advisors Private Ltd.
The credit rating agencies appointed are CARE Ratings Ltd and India Ratings and Research Private Ltd. The registrar to the Issue is KFin Technologies Ltd.
