National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), the country's first infra-focused corpus, is in advanced talks to acquire a road project owned jointly by Ashoka Buildcon NSE 5.07 % and Macquarie India, valuing the Madhya Pradesh property in the vicinity of ₹1,000 crore.
Multiple people told ET that talks are reaching the concluding stage on ownership transfer of the Jaora-Nayagaon Toll Road Company that operates the 120-km Jaora-Nayagaon section of SH-31 (erstwhile NH-79). An Ashoka subsidiary owns 74% of the Jaora-Nayagaon Toll Road Company, while Macquarie India owns the remaining 26%.
"The talks are in final stages and we expect the deal to be signed in a month," said one of the sources. The asset will be acquired through Athaang Infrastructure - the road platform incubated by NIIF Master Fund.
Mails sent to NIIF and Ashoka Buildcon remained unanswered, while a Macquarie spokesperson declined to comment.
Jaora-Nayagaon Toll Road was originally owned by a consortium of four developers - SREI Group, PNC Infratech NSE 2.21 %, IFCI NSE -2.80 % and SPML Infra NSE -3.96 %, as a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to develop Jaora-Nayagaon section, on build, operate and transfer (BOT) - toll basis. Ashoka Concessions acquired controlling stake and mana ..
Currently, Athaang owns three strategic road assets, including Dichpally Tollway - a 60-kilometre, four-lane toll road connecting Armur to Adloor on National Highway-7 in Telangana; and Devanahalli Tollway - a strategic arterial 22-km six-lane toll road in Karnataka, connecting Bengaluru city and its airport.
In April, NIIF had acquired GVR Ashoka Chennai Outer Ring Road in Tamil Nadu from Ashoka Concessions for ₹686 crore. Last year, ET first reported about NIIF's plans to acquire operational road assets of Ashoka Concessions, including Chennai ORR.
Source Name:-Economic Times