India roads
TRIL is discussing with GIC to sell four roads assets in India. Credit: Enthusiast10.

Tata Realty and Infrastructure (TRIL) is looking to sell four of its Indian road projects after entering negotiations with Singaporean sovereign fund GIC.

Two parties familiar with the matter told The Economic Times that the NHAI toll road projects put on sale are managed by TRIL’s subsidiary TRIL Roads Private Limited.

To find a buyer, TRIL has hired Ambit Capital. Invitations were also sent to investors including Macquarie, Cube Highways and Canadian fund CDPQ, one source told the publication.

According to another source, the formal sale process will begin in a couple of weeks, but discussions with GIC have already started.

The two highways are operation and consist of the Durg Bypass in Chhattisgarh and the 110km Pune-Solapur Expressway on NH65 in Maharashtra.

The two remaining projects currently under construction are the 120km Hampi Expressway section of NH13 in Karnataka, and Uchit Expressway of 93.5km from Chittorgarh to Udaipur on NH76.

CDPQ and TRIL previously discussed to establish a platform as the fund’s entry vehicle into the Indian roads sector. However, discussions have not ended with a result.

TRIL was floated in 2007 to execute infrastructure and real estate projects through special purpose vehicles (SPVs). The organisation manages IT parks, residential projects, and ropeway services.

In recent months, India’s road sector has been full of merger and acquisition deals.

This week, it was revealed that CDPQ had plans to acquire three road projects from Essel Highways for an enterprise value of almost Rs35bn ($508.5m).

Very recently, IndInfravit Trust signed an agreement to buy nine operational road projects from Sadbhav Infrastructure Project for approximately $959m.

Last month, Reliance Infrastructure announced that it will conclude the sale of Delhi Agra (DA) toll road to Singapore-based Cube Highways and Infrastructure for Rs36bn ($522.3m) by August. The deal was initially announced in March.