Cube Highways to raise $1 billion for InvIT with Canadian pension fund

Cube Highways is in the final stages of talks to raise $1 billion for its infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) with Canadian pension fund British Columbia Investment Management Corp. and Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund Mubadala.

Thee world's largest road operator is promoted by I Squared Capital and International Finance Corp and manages a network of 27 highways totalling 8,400 lanes km, which will be included in the InvIT.

Cube has been in negotiations with BCI and an Abu Dhabi state-backed investor, among others, for the funding since September.

InvITs manage income-generating infrastructure assets and provide investors with predictable returns.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India revealed that it might be public, privately listed, or private unlisted.

People can participate in listed InvITs through an initial public offering, but private listed InvITs have units that are privately owned by investors and eventually listed on a stock market. Private unlisted InvITs are not required to list their units on a stock market or provide all the disclosures that a publicly traded corporation must make.

Cube is backed by I Squared Capital, the International Finance Corporation, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and a group of Japanese investors including Mitsubishi Corporation, the Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corp. for Transport and Urban Development, East Nippon Expressway Co. Ltd, and Japan Expressway Co. International Ltd.

Cube is India's largest purchaser of active road projects. Chenani–Nashri Tunnelway Ltd, Jammu and Kashmir's largest working road tunnel were bought from IL&FS Transportation Network Ltd, as was DA Toll Road Pvt Ltd, a six-lane toll road between Delhi and Agra.

It paid the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) $684 million for a 30-year concession on nine functioning routes under the toll-operate-transfer model.

InvITs are a popular investment structure for holding functioning assets such as highways, transmission lines, renewable energy projects, cellphone towers, and gas pipelines.

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