Cube Highways and Infrastructure has won the third round of the Indian Government’s toll-operate-transfer (TOT) road auctions with a Rs.50.11bn ($699m) bid.

In the round, The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) auctioned nine stretches of roads spanning 566.27km across Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Tamil Nadu.

Signapore-based Cube Highways offered the bid for a 30-year concession period.

The quoted bid is higher than NHAI’s initial estimated concession value (IECV) of Rs.49.95bn ($696.7m).

The bid deadline was postponed twice in September and October as the investors requested additional time.

Under the TOT model, the company with the highest bid is authorised to manage and operate the road assets for a period of 30 years and can earn revenue from toll collection.

In addition, National Infrastructure and Investment Fund quoted a price of Rs.42.30bn ($590m) while IRB Infrastructure Developers quoted Rs.35.10bn ($489.6m).

The first round of the TOT auction was won by Macquarie Group, who quoted Rs.96.81bn ($1.35bn) to manage 648km stretch of highways.

In the second round, Cube Highways emerged as the highest bidder by quoting Rs.46.12bn ($643.3m).

The bid price was less than NHAI’s expected price of Rs.53.62bn ($748m) and the second round was eventually cancelled.

NHAI has released the tender for the fourth round.

In September, Cube Highways struck an agreement with Dilip Buildcon to acquire five Indian road projects.

The under-construction road assets are in Maharashtra, Telangana and Odisha.

In May, Cube Highways agreed to acquire a 39% stake in Ghaziabad-Aligarh Expressway, an associate of Bharat Road Network (BRNL).

In February, the company acquired a hybrid annuity model (HAM) project in Tamil Nadu. The deal granted Cube Highways the rights to construct and operate around 160 lane-kilometres highway in the state.