The proceeds from the Notes will be used principally to fund ITR’s purchase of onshore senior secured non-convertible debentures (INR NCDs) to be issued by IRB. IRB, in turn, will use the proceeds of the INR NCDs mainly to refinance existing debt, to fund capital expenditure and for general corporate purposes, Moody’s has assigned a first time (P)Ba2 rating to the Notes. The Fitch’s (P)Ba2 rating is based on Fitch’s expectation of robust traffic performance across its diverse and strategically located portfolio of toll roads, supported by a concession framework that provides visibility on upcoming tariff increases.
The ratings also take into account IRB record in operating and maintaining the group’s asset base to a high standard, with expertise provided by its in-house engineering, procurement and construction business. IRB, executed the country’s first build-operate-transfer road project, and is one of the largest operators of such ventures and currently it has about 3,404 lane Km operational and about 2,330 lane Km under development. Among its notable projects are the Mumbai Pune Expressway and the Ahmedabad Vadodara Expressway.
Barclays Bank PLC, Deutsche Bank AG, Singapore Branch and J.P. Morgan Securities plc have acted as the joint lead managers to ITR as the issuer.
The Appleby team comprises Group Managing Partner Malcolm Moller, Associates Karishma Beegoo and Vaishali Damonaiko.
