Edelweiss to invest in greenfield infra projects

Edelweiss Infrastructure Yield Plus Fund has planned to start investing in greenfield infrastructure projects. Subahoo Chordia, head of infra fund business, informed that the company will be much more like a strategic partner for the developer and not just capital providers. The philosophy will continue to help developers and construction companies to grow their core business by recycling their capital and the company will work with selective developers it sees that its governance ethos match. In the next fund, it will also look to provide capital to partner developers at SPV (special purpose vehicle) level during the construction phase with proper structure as a bridge to buying out these assets. He further added that very few financial investors take greenfield risk in Indian infrastructure, except in the case of renewable energy, preferring to stick to operating assets that are less risky. Many infrastructure investments in the 2000s where funds invested at the holding company level or in under-construction projects didn't yield outcomes that investors expected. The company will not bid for greenfield projects on its own as it is not keen to compete with developers but wish to work as strategic partners, instead. The fund is also bullish on the roads sector and is looking to pick up a bunch of operating roads assets. The company is negotiating with several developers to look at more acquisitions across sectors as it is looking to scale up its current highway portfolio from three assets to about 15 during the next fiscal.