Welspun to sell 6 road assets to UK fund for Rs 6,000 crore

MUMBAI: Welspun Group, controlled by B K Goenka, is selling a sizable part of its road asset portfolio to British private equity investor Actis for an enterprise value of Rs 6,000 crore ($775 million). It has inked a deal to sell six operational highway projects — two in Maharashtra, two in Uttar Pradesh linking to Uttarakhand and two in Delhi — to the London-based fund. The six projects had a consolidated turnover of Rs 653 crore in fiscal year 2022.
This will be the British investor’s first road investment in India from its Actis Long Life Infrastructure Fund (ALLIF). ALLIF had recently acquired a 50% stake in Dubaiheadquartered Emirates District Cooling Company and had bought Turkish company Ulug Energy.
After the divestment of the six road assets, Welspun will be left with two under-construction road projects (one in Tamil Nadu and the other in Bihar). However, Actis has the right of first refusal over the two assets as and when Welspun decides to sell them. The two projects entail a total cost of Rs 3,900 crore.
Welspun plans to deploy the sale proceeds (received from the offloading of the six road assets) into its existing infrastructure business. Welspun Enterprises, which houses the road projects, has an order book of Rs 12,500 crore, including contracts worth Rs 6,500 crore in the water sector.