Top Canadian pension funds invest $438 mln in Indian highways trust, boost infra bets

National Highways Infra Trust

20/03/2024 06:30

BENGALURU, March 20 (Reuters) - Two big Canadian pension
funds invested a total of C$595 million ($438.3 million) in
India's National Highways Infra Trust (NHIT)  NATG.NS  this
week, dialling up their bets on the poll-bound South Asian
country's booming infrastructure sector.
    In the trust backed by the Indian government for developing
national highways, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and
the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board invested C$297 million
and C$298 million, respectively, the funds said in separate
statements on Tuesday and Wednesday. 
    The investments come as India, where general elections
commence next month, has been seeing continued momentum in
pre-poll government spending, benefitting construction companies
across sectors such as cement, wiring and realty. 
    The share of road-related projects compared to overall
tenders grew to 42% in the quarter ended December 2023 from 40%
a year earlier, grabbing the largest slice of orders, data from
India Ratings & Research showed.
    Proceeds from the capital raise will be used to acquire
seven road concessions across central, eastern and southern
India, Ontario Teachers' said, expanding NHIT's portfolio to
operations at 15 toll roads. 

($1 = 1.3576 Canadian dollars)

 (Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane
Venkatraman
)
 ((Hritam.Mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com; X: @MukherjeeHritam;))