Indian government infrastructure fund closes at $2.3b
NIIF Master Fund, a rupee-denominated infrastructure investment vehicle backed by the Indian government, has achieved a final close of $2.34 billion, beating its $2.1 billion target.
It follows a wave of commitments totaling $107 million from Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), and Axis Bank. Axis already contributed to an earlier close.
Other investors include Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), AustralianSuper, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP), Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, ICICI Bank, Temasek Holdings, HDFC Group, and Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance. Each investor is also a shareholder in National Investment & Infrastructure Fund (NIIFL), the fund manager.
Overseas participants have the right to deploy an additional $3 billion in co-investment. For example, CPPIB is putting $150 million into the fund and has allocated a further $450 million for co-investment. AustralianSuper and OTPP each agreed to invest $1 billion, comprising a $250 million fund commitment and $750 million for co-investment.
NIIF Master Fund focuses on operating assets in core infrastructure sectors, primarily transportation and energy. The fund has already acquired a controlling stake in Continental Warehousing Corporation alongside DP World, established a $2 billion toll road platform with PSP, bought non-banking finance company IDFC Infrastructure Finance, and participated in a $330 million investment in CDC Group-managed Ayana Renewable Power.
“In addition to the additional scale that the fund gains from this investment, NIIF will benefit from PSP Investments’ strong global infrastructure investing experience, while DFC brings along opportunities for NIIF to continuously learn about highest global standards such as the Blue Dot Network and commitment to best practices with respect to transparency and management of environmental and social risks,” Sujoy Bose, CEO of NIIF, said in a statement.
NIIFL now has more than $4.4 billion of committed equity capital across three vehicles: the NIIF Master Fund, NIIF Fund of Funds, and Strategic Opportunities Fund.
The fund-of-funds had raised $700 million against a target of $1 billion as of March and counts the Asian Development Bank among its investors. It backs local managers with exposure to areas such as climate infrastructure, affordable housing, and digital consumer platforms. It has made allocations to Green Growth Equity Fund (GGEF), which is managed by EverSource Capital, an affordable housing vehicle launched by HDFC Capital, and Multiples Alternate Asset Management’s latest flagship fund.
The Strategic Opportunities Fund is a private equity vehicle that aims to build scalable businesses across a range of opportunity long but capital short sectors.
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