Canadian pension fund OMERS is set to increase its stake in Interise Trust, one of India’s largest infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs) in the roads sector, by acquiring shares from Allianz Capital Partners (ACP), according to a recent announcement.
The deal will see Ontario’s pension fund acquiring ACP’s 13.5% stake in Interise Trust, raising its ownership to 34.8% from the current 21.3% and boosting its exposure to the Indian toll-road business.
ACP acquired a 25% stake as an anchor investor in Interise in 2018, marking its first direct infrastructure investment in India.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to the announcement, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) will remain the largest investor in Interise Trust.
OMERS has been invested in Interise Trust, formerly known as IndInfravit Trust, since 2019. The InvIT holds a diversified portfolio of 17 operational road concessions across eight states in India, of which 14 are toll roads and three are annuity roads.
The transaction is OMERS’s second in the transportation sector in six weeks, following its signing an agreement to acquire Italy’s Grandi Stazioni Retail in partnership with DWS last month.
OMERS Infrastructure head of Asia Pacific Christopher Curtain said the deal “increases OMERS exposure to India’s economic growth through an asset and sector that we know well”.
Transportation is one of OMERS Infrastructure’s three global priority sectors, the others being digital and energy.
OMERS began its investments in Asia with Australia about nine years ago and opened its Singapore office in 2018. It invests across six asset classes, wherein five of its six businesses have a presence in Asia. Three are in private and two are in the public space.
OMERS Infrastructure manages approximately C$36 billion ($26.5 billion), including capital invested on behalf of OMERS and third parties, in approximately 30 investments in North America, Western Europe, India, and Australia.
Aside from Interise Trust, the pension fund’s investments in Asia include a stake in Port of Melbourne acquired in 2016; and a 19.99% interest in TransGrid, the electricity network operator in Australia.
