Athaang Infrastructure, the roads platform owned by the government-backed National Infrastructure and Investment Fund (NIIF), is selling two road assets to Cube Highways Trust, for an enterprise value of Rs 4,184.7 crore ($478 million).
Cube Highways Trust, the infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) backed by US-based private equity firm I Squared Capital’s India road platform Cube Highways, will acquire the Quazigund Expressway Pvt. Ltd and Athaang Jammu Udhampur Highway Pvt. Ltd, according to a stock-exchange filing.
Quazigund Expressway operates a 16.26-km-long stretch of a four-lane highway and Athaang Jammu Udhampur operates a 64.58-km-long stretch of a four-lane highway in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Athaang currently has a portfolio of five road projects comprising 230 km. It will retain three assets after the deal. The government-backed NIIF has interests across the highways sector as well as other infrastructure and non-infrastructure sectors including renewable energy, transport, ports, logistics, airports and digital infrastructure.
Cube Highways is one of the single biggest operators of roads in India, managing 27 projects spanning 8,400 km of highways across the country. Apart from I Squared Capital, it is also backed by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, International Finance Corp, the Japan Overseas Infrastructure and Investment Corp for Transport and Urban Development, Mitsubishi Corp, the East Nippon Expressway Co, and the Japan Expressway Co International Ltd.
The company began operating in India in 2015 and acquired a bunch of assets, before shifting its focus to the InvIT. The firm set up the InvIT in December 2021 and listed its units on stock exchanges in 2023.
