Apis Partners to invest $110 mn in L&T's infra refinancing arm; fund to support growth of firm's loan book across sectors

Mumbai: British private equity fund Apis Partners on Thursday said it is picking up a 25.1 percent stake for $110 million in L&T Infra Debt Fund (IDF), the infra refinancing arm of the engineering, procurement and construction (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. [caption id=“attachment_4292949” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. News 18.[/caption] 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 percent down at Rs 137.50 a piece on the BSE, as against a 0.83 percent correction in the benchmark.