The country’s first Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT) issue, launched by toll-road builder IRB Infrastructure Developers, was subscribed 8.57 times on Friday, the last day of the issue.
The Qualified Institutional Buyer (QIB) portion was subscribed 10.81 times and the non-institutional investor (NII) portion 5.89 times, with about 60,000 applications from the public. The interest from the public was despite SEBI restrictions that mandated a minimum application size of ₹10 lakh. The fund attracted interest from large mainstay investors, including sovereign funds such as the Government of Singapore. The InvIT issue in the price band of ₹100-102 per unit. IRB, a Mumbai-based build-operate-transfer (BOT) developer of roads, was looking at raising ₹5,035 crore through the initial public offering of its InvIT. This will be also the first InvIT to be listed on the exchanges. The issue opened on May 3.
InvITs, much like mutual funds, enable individuals to pool investments into the infrastructure sector and earn a return on the income (after deducting expenditure). InvITs can invest in infrastructure projects, either directly or through SPVs, while in case of public-private partnership projects, such investments can be made only through SPVs.
In India, InvITs are regulated by SEBI and are mandated to be listed.