Apis Partners to invest USD 110 mn in L&T Infra Debt Fund

Mumbai: British private equity fund Apis Partners on April 25 said it is picking up a 25.1 percent stake for $110 million in Larsen & Toubro Infra Debt Fund (IDF), the infra refinancing arm of EPC major.

L&T IDF has a loan book of Rs 8,000 crore and the investment will help grow the book, an official statement said.

Apis Growth Fund II has entered into a binding agreement to acquire the stake in L&T IDF, it said, adding 70 percent of the investment will come as growth capital while 30 percent is a secondary transaction where existing shareholders are exiting their holdings, it said.

The investment will support growth of L&T IDFs loan book across sectors such as renewable energy, roads, power transmission, airports and ports, it said.

The funding will also strengthen the IDF's capital structure, technology and digitisation strategy, it added.

Partnering with Apis will support the IDF in accessing low cost international sources of funds which will be utilised to refinance operational infrastructure projects in India, the statement said.

As of December it had a loan book of Rs 8,000 crore spread across 94 projects with half of the portfolio being guaranteed by a government authority, it said, adding there is no asset quality stress.

"This partnership with Apis is a reflection of the value creation that the Indian infrastructure financing space offers to investors looking for sustainable returns in the long term," Dinanath Dubhashi, the managing director and chief executive of L&T Finance Holdings, the promoter of the IDF said.

Udayan Goyal, co-founder and managing partner of Apis Partners said the IDF 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".
The L&T Finance Holdings scrip closed 1.61 per cent down at Rs 137.50 a piece on the BSE, as against a 0.83 percent correction in the benchmark.