Bharat Highways InvIT Makes Tepid Debut, Lists at 1% Premium

12 Mar 2024 , 10:22 AM

Bharat Highways Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT) made a modest debut on the stock exchanges, with its shares listing at ₹101.10 on March 12, just over 1% higher than its IPO price of ₹100.

The subdued debut was in line with market expectations, as the company’s ₹2,500 Crore public offer, the largest in 2024 thus far, received a lukewarm response from investors. The IPO was subscribed 8.02 times, with investors bidding for 82.53 Crore units against an offer size of 10.3 Crore units.

Institutional investors displayed the most interest, subscribing 8.91 times the allotted quota, while non-institutional investors bought 6.93 times the portion set aside for them.

The infrastructure investment trust, which owns a portfolio of seven road assets, intends to utilize the IPO proceeds to provide loans to the project SPVs (special purpose vehicles) for repaying their outstanding loans and for general corporate purposes. The IPO consisted entirely of fresh issue of shares.

Bharat Highways InvIT is an infrastructure investment trust established to acquire, manage, and invest in a selection of infrastructure assets across India, in accordance with the guidelines laid out by the Sebi InvIT regulations.

The InvIT’s assets are located in Punjab, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh, and comprise projects developed under the hybrid annuity model (HAM) and awarded by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Revenue generated from these assets primarily comes from annuity payments issued by NHAI.

Additionally, the InvIT raised ₹826 Crore from the anchor book, with prominent participants including HDFC Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, Kotak Mutual Fund, Axis Mutual Fund, Societe Generale, Copthall Mauritius Investment, HDFC Life Insurance Company, and Max Life Insurance Company.