Cube close to clinching ₹4,000 cr deal for Athaang road assets
₹4,000 crore. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), the other final bidder, too had submitted a binding bid for the deal run by JP Morgan. Cube Highways will now be given exclusivity to close the deal for the portfolio of five road assets totalling 230 km.
Mint had earlier reported that CPPIB and Cube Highways were the finalists, and were expected to submit their final binding bids. “Cube Highways and CPPIB had submitted the binding bids. Of the two, Cube Highways has emerged as the front-runner.
The plan is now to give exclusivity to Cube Highways to close the deal," said one of the two people cited above, requesting anonymity. The Economic Times had earlier reported about up to 10 global and domestic infrastructure funds including CPPIB, KKR, Spain’s Abertis, France’ Vinci Highways, Edelweiss’ Sekura Roads and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) signing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) for the deal. Spokespersons for CPPIB and JP Morgan declined comment.
Spokespersons for NIIF and Cube Highways didn’t respond to queries emailed on Monday evening. Singapore-based Cube Highways and Infrastructure Pte Ltd operates highways totalling 8,400 lane km in India. Its investors include I Squared Capital, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, International Finance Corp., and a consortium comprising of Mitsubishi Corp., Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corp.
for Transport and Urban Development, East Nippon Expressway Co. Ltd and Japan Expressway Co. International Ltd.
Experts say that with the Indian road sector maturing, there are assets in play. "The significant buildout in the road sector over the last decade has created a substantial inventory of assets. These mature and revenue-generating projects are now
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