IRB Infra plans Rs. 4,300-cr via InvITs

Becoming the first player in the country to enter the market to generate financing via Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs), IRB Infrastructure is all set to generate a staggering sum of Rs. 4,300-cr for meeting its financing requirements. In this connection, it recently filed its draft offer documents for the fund-raising plans with capital market regulator SEBI, which introduced regulations for InvITs back in 2014, an instrument meant to encourage broader participation in infrastructure investment. InvITs will be structured similarly to mutual funds, issuing units to investors, but will invest in infrastructure projects instead of listed equity or debt. Since the introduction, however, no company had come forward to use this platform to raise capital. According to the current offer document, IRB Infrastructure Developers will be the sponsor of the IRB InvIT Fund (the 'Trust'), an infrastructure investment trust registered with SEBI. IRB Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of IRB Infra Developers, will be the Investment Manager. IDFC Bank, Credit Suisse, ICICI Securities, and IIFL Holdings, are the merchant bankers to the issue, said official sources.