Adani Group to buy Macquarie Asia Infra Fund's India Toll Roads in AP and Gujarat for Rs3,110 crore

5 Aug 2022 , 02:26 PM

Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) has informed that its wholly-owned subsidiary Adani Road Transport Ltd (ARTL) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Gujarat Road and Infrastructure Company Ltd (GRICL) (owned 56.8% by Macquarie Asia Infrastructure Fund) and Swarna Tollway Private Ltd (STPL) (which owned 100% by Macquarie Asia Infrastructure Fund). 

Accordingly, ARTL will acquire 56.8% in GRICL and 100% stake in STPL subject to regulatory approval. The transaction is expected to close in September 2022, the company said.

Swarna Tollway has two stretches of toll roads in the state of Andhra Pradesh:

• Tada to Nellore on NH-16 connecting important ports such as Chennai, and Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, spanning 110 km
• Nandigama to Ibrahimpatnam to Vijayawada on NH-65 spanning 48 km, which connects key southern metro cities and provides feeder traffic to NH16. Together the STPL portfolio has demonstrated strong historical revenue growth.

GRICL has two stretches of toll roads in Gujarat:

• Ahmedabad to Mehsana on SH-41 spanning 51.6 km with majority passenger traffic connecting major northern Gujarat corridors 
• Vadodara to Halol on SH-87 spanning which is 31.7 km on Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor with proximity to several companies.

The GRICL portfolio has demonstrated strong revenue growth. Macquarie Asia Infrastructure Fund owns 56.8% stake, IL&FS owns 26.8% stake and Govt of Gujarat owns the remaining stake. Post acquisition of the stake in GRICL, ARTL will also evaluate the acquisition of IL&FS stake in GRICL, the company said.

The acquisition is at an enterprise cost of Rs3,110 crore. The portfolio has an LTM EBITDA of Rs456 crore with approx. Rs165 crore of net debt.

At around 2:24 PM, Adani Enterprises was trading at Rs2,703.90 per share down by Rs19.3 or 0.71% from its previous closing of Rs2,723.20 per share on the BSE.