Latest news with #InvIT
Time of India
4 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Sebi reforms REITs and InvITs norms to align disclosures, cut entry size; allow broader role for merchant bankers
The Sebi board on Wednesday approved a set of amendments aimed at improving ease of doing business for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs), and merchant bankers. The key changes include greater cash-flow flexibility for REITs and InvITs, a sharper definition of public unitholding, harmonised reporting timelines, and a reduction in the minimum investment size for privately placed InvITs. Separately, Sebi also allowed merchant bankers to undertake certain non-Sebi-regulated financial services under the same legal entity, subject to regulatory safeguards, PTI reported. Key changes for REITs and InvITs Under the revised framework, units held by related parties of the REIT or InvIT, or of the sponsor, investment manager, or project manager, will not be classified as part of the 'public' even if they qualify as Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs). This amendment formalises the exclusion and tightens disclosure norms on related-party holdings. Sebi has also enabled HoldCos to offset negative net distributable cash flows from their own operations against cash inflows from special purpose vehicles (SPVs) before distributing the balance to the REIT/InvIT. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Ballyhaunis: We Need People to Try Latest High-Tech Hearing Aids - Free Learn More Undo This marks a shift from the earlier mandate that required 100% onward distribution of SPV inflows. The regulator has further aligned the timeline for submission of various reports—such as quarterly filings to stock exchanges, trustees, investment managers, and valuation reports—with the schedule for financial results, to streamline compliance and remove redundant delays. In a bid to widen access to privately placed InvITs, Sebi has approved a uniform minimum allotment size of Rs 25 lakh in the primary market, aligning it with the trading lot in the secondary market. The earlier thresholds were Rs 1 crore or Rs 25 crore depending on the asset mix. Merchant bankers get greater flexibility Addressing long-standing feedback, Sebi revised its stance on the 2024 directive that had required merchant bankers to hive off non-Sebi-regulated business into separate legal entities. Instead, merchant bankers may now continue to conduct non-Sebi activities under the same entity, subject to two conditions: If the activity is regulated by another financial-sector regulator, compliance with that regulator's framework is mandatory. If the activity is not regulated by Sebi or any other financial regulator, it must be fee-based, non-fund-based, and directly related to financial services. Sebi said these relaxations aim to facilitate more efficient operations and reduce structural overheads for merchant bankers, without compromising regulatory oversight. The amendments to the REITs Regulations, InvITs Regulations, and Merchant Bankers Regulations were approved during Sebi's board meeting on Wednesday and will be notified shortly. Stay informed with the latest business news, updates on bank holidays and public holidays . AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Indian Express
6 days ago
- Business
- Indian Express
Sebi may discuss separate PSU delisting norms, ESOPs for startup founders in board meet
The Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi) board which is scheduled to meet on June 18, is likely to discuss a host of reforms, including allowing voluntary delisting of public sector undertakings (PSUs) where government holds 90 per cent or above stake and permitting founders of startups to retain employee stock options (ESOPs) post listing of their companies. The Sebi board is likely to create a separate carve out mechanism for voluntary delisting for PSU, where the government's shareholding equals to exceed 90 per cent of the total issued shares, according to market participants. Delisting of securities means the removal of securities of a listed company from a stock exchange. Delisting of a company is considered to be successful, if the post offer shareholding of the promoter or promoter group along with the shares tendered by public shareholders reaches 90 per cent of the total issued shares. In a draft paper issued in the last month, Sebi had said a few PSUs have thin public float and poor financials. Although some of these PSUs may be profitable, they might not have a future due to outdated product lines or government's decisions to sell-off their assets such as individual units. The consultation paper said that since the shares of these PSUs are held by the government, it reduces risks and offers more security for investors. This, in turn, results in a heightened market price, which in certain cases may not be commensurate with the book value of these companies. According to the draft paper, if such PSUs are to undertake delisting, being frequently traded, the 60 days' volume weighted average market price will be required to be taken into consideration, which will lead to higher floor price and consequently result in higher budgetary outlay for the government. In the meeting, the board may also consider the proposal to allow founders of new-age tech companies, or startups, planning to launch initial public offering, and who are classified as promotor or promoter group in the draft offer document, to continue to hold, exercise or avail ESOPs granted one year before the company undertakes IPO. Currently, while employees of a company are eligible for ESOP, promoters are not entitled to receive it. The Sebi board may also take up issues such as treatment of Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvIT) and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT) as equity, providing flexibility to alternative investment funds (AIF) to offer co-investment opportunities to investors and to facilitate regulations for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) investing in government bonds, market experts said.
Mint
7 days ago
- Business
- Mint
IndoSpace appoints Stellar Value Chain founder Anshuman Singh as MD and CEO
Bengaluru: Everstone Group-backed IndoSpace, India's largest warehousing developer, has appointed Anshuman Singh, founder of Stellar Value Chain Solutions, as its managing director and chief executive, said two people familiar with the development. Rajesh Jaggi, who played a key role in building the IndoSpace business and managing it, will continue as vice-chairman (real estate) at the Singapore-based private equity firm. IndoSpace, founded in 2007, is a joint venture between private equity firm Everstone Group and industrial real estate company Realterm. In 2023, global logistics provider CEVA Logistics acquired Stellar Value Chain, a third-party logistics firm Singh founded in 2016. Before that, he had co-founded Future Supply Chain Solutions Ltd. 'Anshuman Singh, with his extensive experience in the logistics space, has joined IndoSpace to steer the future growth of the company, in terms of development of assets and leasing, and acquisitions in an opportunistic manner. The company is also planning value-added services for its clients as a new offering,' said the first of the two people cited earlier, both of whom requested not to be named. An IndoSpace spokesperson didn't respond to queries. IndoSpace is the largest developer and operator of Grade A industrial and logistics real estate with a pan-India network of over fifty logistics parks, spanning 60 million sq. ft across 11 cities. The warehousing and logistics sector in the country has seen sustained interest from global investors who are looking to buy good-quality warehousing assets or entire portfolios from developers and operators. 'With a mature, institutionally-backed asset portfolio, IndoSpace is looking to monetize it. It has been exploring the possibility of an infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) or an initial public offering (IPO) in the medium term,' said the second person. Last year, IndoSpace sold 2.5 million sq. ft of warehousing space to Alta Capital for around $100 million. The warehousing assets were located at Pune and Sri City, Andhra Pradesh. Market leader IndoSpace competes with Blackstone-owned Horizon Industrial Parks, Ascendas Firstspace, ESR India among others in an asset class which has witnessed growing demand for modern warehousing and industrial facilities, and a solid appetite among institutional investors for ready and good-quality industrial assets. 'IndoSpace not only had the first-mover advantage, but it set the tone for warehousing development in India, and built with global standards from the start. In recent years, the market has become competitive with an increasing number of players of global repute,' said Chandranath Dey, India head – operations, business development, industrial consulting & integrated logistics, India, JLL, a property advisory. This year, IndoSpace inked a long-term lease of over 700,000 sq. ft with RenewSys India for warehousing space in Khalapur near Mumbai. It also leased 127,000 sq. ft in Pune to Steelcase Asia Pacific Holdings.
Mint
12-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
NHAI eyes two InvIT rounds, auction of road bundles to private trusts for the first time
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) aims to raise ₹ 20,000 crore via two offerings from its own infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) this fiscal, two people aware of the plans said. It also plans to offer completed highway stretches to private InvITs for the first time, as part of an effort to raise up to ₹ 60,000 crore during the year, they said. NHAI bundles stretches of operational highways into InvITs and offers its units to investors, who get a regular share of road tolls. Ever since the highway InvIT programme was launched in 2020, the authority has had a single offering every year through its own InvIT–National Highways Infra Trust (NHIT). So far, it has raised ₹ 43,638 crore through InvITs. 'Under its asset monetization strategy document, NHAI has identified 24 highway stretches covering a distance of 1,472 km for monetizationin road project bundles could be added during the year to see that the exercise results in ₹ 50,000-60,000 crore resource mobilization for the government in FY26,' one of the two people cited above said on the condition of anonymity. 'This would be twice the ₹ 30,000 crore target given in the outcome budget for FY26.' NHAI believes the market for these trusts has matured, prompting it to consider two offerings this year, the person cited above said. Its last InvIT in FY25 raised ₹ 17,738 crore. NHIT currently has over 350 investors and close to 20 operational highway projects. To be sure, NHAI raised ₹ 28,724 crore in FY25 through InvITs and toll-operate-transfer (TOT) contracts, against a stiff targetof ₹ 40,000 crore. However, the overall highway sector could reach closer to its targeted monetisation of ₹ 1.6 trillion under National Monetisation Pipeline-1 between FY22 and FY25, closing the fiscal with about ₹ 1.58 trillion. "The two rounds of InvITs will help the trust to get over a third of monetization funds of about ₹ 60,000 crore expected to be targeted for FY26,' the second person said on the condition of anonymity. 'The road assets identified by NHAI for monetization itself is valued at over ₹ 40,000 crore, and if more bundles are identified, the ₹ 60,000 crore aspirational target could be easily achieved.' Besides, NHAI also plans to auction completed road and highway bundles directly to private sector InvITs, the second person said. This will be the first time that completed and revenue-generating highways under the 'toll operate transfer (ToT)' mechanism will be directly and exclusively offered to private InvITs, who could then mobilize global investments by offering subscription of InvIT units. So far, the government has been offering road projects by nomination only to NHIT, whileauctioning ToT projects to private highway developers who could then transfer the road bundles to their respective InvITs. An NHIT official said on the condition of anonymity that an exclusive InvIT round may be a possibility if it attracts dedicated trusts formed for infra investments. The official said several small road bundles with the NHAI could be offered only to InvITs to attract diverse investors from across the globe to invest in Indian infrastructure. Queries emailed to NHAI and the ministry of road transport and highways remained unanswered till press time. 'This is an interesting variation to the ToT (toll-operate-transfer) model and has pros and cons. As a pro, InvITs are considered to have low cost of capital for investors and, hence, should offer best prices. Further, the assurance of reduced competition may spur InvITs to participate more vigorously in ToT bids,' said Kuljit Singh, partner and national infrastructure leader, EY India. 'As a con, InvITs that can acquire a large number of ToT projects may be limited as they typically do not have any significant dry powder available for acquisitions. Typically, InvITs raise just as much funds as are necessary to deploy immediately. Hence, this variation may lead to a reduction in competition and impact revenue realisation,' said Singh. The NHAI monetizes assets through three key modes: toll-operate-transfer, InvITs, and securitization (project-based financing through special purpose vehicles). These instruments have helped the agency raise over ₹ 1.4 lakh crore across more than 6,100 km of national highways under the National Monetisation Pipeline 1. With a pool of ₹ 3.5-4 trillion of completed highway assets. The agency is set to contribute significantly to the government's asset monetization target to raise ₹ 10 trillion in the five years through 2030. Apart from InvITs, ToT is expected to remain the mainstay of monetisation in FY26. Though only one bundle of ToT worth ₹ 6,661 crore was monetised in FY25, NHAI, with a mix of small and large road bundles, is expected to get a better response in FY26. Already, under its monetisation strategy, NHAI has said it will offer three ToT bundles per quarter, including one smaller ( ₹ 2,000 crore), one medium ( ₹ 5,000 crore), and one large ( ₹ 9,000 crore) bundle. Earlier, only two bundles per quarter were targeted. Also, separate and additional InvIT phases would be launched during the year, while it would also mobilise funds by securitising future revenues from its ongoing and upcoming greenfield access-controlled highways and expressways. NHAI set up its InvIT in 2014 and owns a 16% stake. Other investors inNHIT includeCanada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP). AnInvIT is a pooled investment vehicle that allows investors to get exposure to income-yielding assets such as toll roads and power plants. To safeguard investors' interest, the Securities and Exchange Board of India mandated InvITs to invest at least 80% of their total assets in completed infrastructure projects that are capable of generating income. The remaining 20% can be invested in under-construction projects. The trust also needs to distribute at least 90% of its income to the unit-holders as dividends. There are about two dozen InvITs in the country. Some of these are Cube Highways Trust, India Infrastructure Trust, IRB Infrastructure Trust and IndInfravit Trust. Most of these either directly participate in auctions of ToT projects that are open to all, including developers, InvITs and fund houses, or get projects that are transferred by their parent highway development companies. There is no separate window for InvITs to acquire completed road projects.
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Business Standard
12-06-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
InvITs' AUM to triple to ₹21 trillion by FY30, says industry body
The value of assets under management (AUM) of Indian Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) is estimated to grow to ₹21 trillion from the current ₹7 trillion, according to the Bharat InvITs Association. N. S. Venkatesh, chief executive officer of the association, stated that the AUM growth will be led by the asset monetisation strategy of the Indian government and the upcoming projects in the infrastructure space. The association has estimated the potential InvIT pipeline from the existing infra asset base (excluding existing InvITs AUM) to be ₹2.7 trillion; the balance target monetisation pipeline in the near term from the government's total target of ₹6 trillion to be ₹2.1 trillion; and the potential InvIT pipeline from planned infrastructure spending during 2024–30 to be ₹16 trillion. 'There's a huge asset monetisation pipeline at the government level. The majority of those assets will get monetised through InvITs,' Venkatesh added. As of 31 March 2025, there are 22 listed InvITs (public and private) in India, against six as of 31 March 2020. The Bharat InvITs Association is the apex industry body for InvITs. In the last five years, AUM has grown by over 1,000 per cent, with a growth of 16.5 per cent over the last year. There are five publicly listed InvITs in India. As of 31 March 2025, they have raised ₹1.7 trillion in equity and ₹2.03 trillion in debt. InvITs distributed a total of ₹24,267 crore to unitholders in FY25. Venkatesh said 'anecdotally' that an investor can get 12–14 per cent returns on their InvIT investments. The total number of unitholders as of 31 March 2025 stood at 2.8 lakh, with a mix of institutional, retail and global investors. InvITs have drawn investment interest from across domestic and international markets. A total of 250+ underlying assets are spread across 21 Indian states. The industry currently spans infrastructure sectors such as roads, power transmission, energy (generation and storage), telecom, warehousing, supply chain, optical fibre lines and pipelines. The road sector assets account for 40 per cent of the overall industry AUM. Venkatesh said that the roads sector will continue to account for the highest share in the overall AUM because a lot of road infrastructure is coming up. 'State governments like Maharashtra and Rajasthan are also coming up with their own InvITs, which is good.' He also highlighted that road InvITs are preferring the hybrid annuity model as well as toll assets. Venkatesh said, 'Over the next 10 years, ₹30–40 trillion of projects will get monetised. There will not be any dearth of projects; we will not see any major headwinds coming in, and regulations are stable now. There is a predictable cash flow.' The executive expects the number of InvITs to grow to 'at least' 50 in the next five years.
