Under the terms of the agreement between Adani and Macquarie, the former will acquire 56.8% of the shares in Gujarat Road and Infrastructure Company (GRICL) and 100% of Swarna Tollway (STPL) from Macquarie. The transaction is expected to close in September 2022. In GRICL, IL&FS owns 26.8% while the Government of Gujarat owns 16.4%. Adani, which led the acquisition of Macquarie India’s toll road facilities through its wholly-owned Adani Road Transport (ARTL) arm, said it would also look into buying IL&FS’ stake in GRICL.
GRICL has two toll road sections in Gujarat – Ahmedabad to Mehsana on the 51.6 km SH-41, with the bulk of passenger traffic connecting major corridors in northern Gujarat, and Vadodara to Halol on the 31.7 km SH-87 on the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor close to several industries.
STPL has two toll road segments in Andhra Pradesh – Tada to Nellore on the NH-16 which connects major ports such as Chennai and Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh over 110 km and Nandigama to Ibrahimpatnam to Vijayawada on the NH-65 over 48 km connecting the southern metro connects cities and provides feeder service to the NH16.
Macquarie’s Toll Roads portfolio in India has an operating profit of Rs. 456 crore on net debt of Rs. 165 crore. This, Adani said, translates to an EV/ebitda multiple of 6.8x.
“ARTL is committed to the Adani Group’s nation-building initiative with a portfolio of more than 5,000 lane kilometers of highway projects under construction/operation. “This is one of the largest portfolios of toll road assets with a robust growth record and strong cash flow generation with low leverage,” said Krishna Prakash Maheshwari, CEO of ARTL.