Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T) exited L&T Infrastructure Development Projects Limited, a joint venture with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments). Infrastructure Yield Plus Strategy, backed by Edelweiss Alternatives, purchased L&T’s stake in the JV. Its stake now stands at 100 percent.
L&T owned 51 percent in the JV, while CPP Investments holds 49 percent stake.
The portfolio comprises seven (7) operating roads and one (1) power transmission asset in India, spanning 4,400 lane-km and 960 ckms respectively.
With this acquisition, the infrastructure platform will scale up to 26 assets, comprising 5,000 lane-km of roads, 1,800 ckms of power transmission assets and 813 MWp of renewables with cumulative annual revenue of Rs 3,000 crore, Edelweiss Alternatives said in a statement.
The deal is in line with L&T’s strategy to exit non-core businesses for reducing exposure to the asset-heavy developmental projects portfolio, enhancing its return on equity (RoE).
Sreekumar Chatra, Managing Director – Infrastructure Yield Strategy, Edelweiss Alternatives, said, “This acquisition is a significant milestone for our business. These assets have a proven track record of revenues & operations, which are geographically dispersed and have long residual life. With our strong asset management and operating capabilities, we are confident of creating further value in the portfolio, and scale it up further.”
Subahoo Chordia, Head – Real Assets Strategy, Edelweiss Alternatives, said, “Our Real Assets Strategy has witnessed strong interest from across investor segments like global pension funds, domestic institutions, UHNIs, family offices and corporates, indicating preference of LPs to invest with managers having a strong management with decades of industry experience… With our strong platform capabilities, we will continue to offer bespoke capital solutions for asset monetization and recycling of capital for Infrastructure developers. With this acquisition, we will have a high-quality diversified infrastructure portfolio of 26 assets across 13 states, making us a leading infrastructure investor in India.”
Edelweiss Alternatives is one of the largest Alternatives platforms in India with an AUM of $6.3 billion (over Rs 52,100 crore) as of December 2023.