Apis invests $110m in India's L&T IDF

Apis will acquire a 25.1% stake in L&T IDF, according to a regulatory filing, of which 70% comprises freshly issued shares and the remainder consists of shares from L&T Finance and its subsidiaries. The investment will support the growth of L&T IDF’s loan book along with technology improvements. Partnering with Apis is expected to help the company access lower cost international sources of funds.

L&T IDF is a registered non-banking finance company (NBFC) that provides long-term refinancing for private sector and public-private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects in a range of sectors including alternative energy and highways. It seeks projects that have completed at least one year of satisfactory commercial operations.

The company belongs to a class of financial institutions known as IDF-NBFCs, which was created by the government to overcome the historical challenges of financing infrastructure projects for banks, such as asset liability mismatches and group concentration limits. In addition, the category is intended to facilitate investments by pension and insurance funds into infrastructure projects.

As of December 2018, L&T IDF had a loan book of around INR80 billion ($1.14 billion) across 94 projects, with 50% of the portfolio guaranteed by a government authority. It claims to have had a 0% non-performing asset ratio since its founding in 2013.

“We are excited to partner with L&T IDF’s experienced team,” said Udayan Goyal, a co-founder and managing partner at Apis. “The company has an exceptional track record in refinancing high-potential infrastructure projects and raising funds at competitive fixed rates in tenors of up to 20 years, while maintaining perfect asset quality. We look forward to helping the team expand its presence in international capital markets and creating further efficiencies through digitization.”

Apis is investing from Apis Growth Fund II, its second middle-market growth fund focusing on financial services and technology investments in emerging markets. The fund launched last year with a target of $400 million; Apis’ previous fund closed in 2017 at $287 million.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Financials
• Infrastructure
• Expansion
• India
• Apis Partners
• Financial Services
• NBFCs