Reliance Infra in talks with S'pore firm
Reliance Infra will use proceeds of Rs1,430cr from sale of 4 road assets
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Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (RInfra) is in talks with Singapore based-Cube Highways for the sale of its four road assets for an enterprise value of Rs 1,430 crore, sources said.
RInfra will use the proceeds from the sale to reduce debt. Cube Highways is promoted by I Squared Capital -- a wholly-owned arm of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority --, International Finance Corporation and a consortium of Japanese investors, including Mitsubishi Corporation and Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation. Confirming the development, a senior company official said that Cube Highways has shown interest in Reliance Infra's four road assets -- DS Toll Road Pvt Ltd, NK Toll Road Pvt Ltd and SU Toll Road Pvt Ltd located in Tamil Nadu, and JR Toll Road Pvt Ltd located in Rajasthan. With a total length of 283 kilometres, the four road assets are under operation with the balance available concession period of up to 12 years. Cube Highways has pegged the enterprise value for the four projects at Rs 1,430 crore and the proceeds from the deal would help in reducing RInfra's debt, the sources said. If the deal materialises, it would be the second one between RInfra and Cube Highway. In January, RInfra had successfully completed the sale of its entire stake in Delhi-Agra Toll Road to Cube Highways for an enterprise value of over Rs 3,600. Reliance Infra is on a debt-reduction drive. Recently, the company announced raising Rs 550 crore from the promoter group and VSFI Holding Pte Ltd – an affiliate of Varde Investment Partners, LLP.
The funds raised would be utilised for long term resources, for general corporate purposes, fund future growth and also to reduce debt. The company's consolidated debt was Rs 14,260 crore and standalone debt was Rs 3,808 crore as of March end. It aims to be debt-free by the end of March next year. RInfra has an EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) order book of over Rs 25,000 crore, power distribution business in Delhi serving 45 lakh customers and defence manufacturing business. The company has executed projects worth over two lakh crore in the past 20 years.
