CPP Investments Does a Third Follow-On Investment in India's National Highways Infra Trust
Mumbai, INDIA (March 26, 2025) – Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) today announced a follow-on investment of INR 20.8 billion (C$346 million) in the units of National Highways Infra Trust (NHIT), an Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT) sponsored by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). This marks the third follow-on investment by CPP Investments since its initial investment at the inception of NHIT in 2021.
The investment is part of NHIT’s capital raise by way of an institutional placement. The proceeds will be used by NHIT to partially fund the acquisition of eleven operating toll roads currently owned by NHAI. Following this investment, CPP Investments will continue to hold 25% of the units in NHIT, and CPP Investments’ total investment in NHIT will increase to INR 57.6 billion (C$960 million).
“India remains a strategic focus for CPP Investments, with infrastructure such as toll roads playing a key role in driving the country’s rapid economic growth. Our continued investment in NHIT since its founding is a testament to our commitment to this robust platform,” said James Bryce, Managing Director, Head of Infrastructure, CPP Investments. “We believe this follow-on investment is an excellent opportunity to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for the CPP Fund.”
The acquisition will expand NHIT’s portfolio from 15 to 26 operating toll roads, all of which have been acquired from NHAI, a statutory authority established in 1988 by an act of the Indian Parliament, responsible for developing, maintaining, and managing national highways in India. Following the transaction, NHIT’s total portfolio will span over 2,300 kilometers across 12 Indian states: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, and West Bengal.
About CPP Investments
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments™) is a professional investment management organization that manages the Fund in the best interest of the more than 22 million contributors and beneficiaries of the Canada Pension Plan. In order to build diversified portfolios of assets, investments are made around the world in public equities, private equities, real estate, infrastructure and fixed income. Headquartered in Toronto, with offices in Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, New York City, San Francisco, São Paulo and Sydney, CPP Investments is governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and at arm’s length from governments. At December 31, 2024, the Fund totalled C$699.6 billion. For more information, please visit www.cppinvestments.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram or on X @CPPInvestments.
I'm going to keep my comments on this deal short.
No big surprise, James Bryce, Managing Director, Head of Infrastructure at CPP Investments sums it up well:
“India remains a strategic focus for CPP Investments, with infrastructure such as toll roads playing a key role in driving the country’s rapid economic growth. Our continued investment in NHIT since its founding is a testament to our commitment to this robust platform. We believe this follow-on investment is an excellent opportunity to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for the CPP Fund.”
Funny how financial commentators are openly discussing the "end of American exceptionalism" and a bunch of nonsense I don't adhere to and the focus is now on Europe as they crank up fiscal spending there.
But India remains the big strategic investment over the long run because of its growing and young population and the best way for CPP Investments and others to play this theme is through infrastructure plays like toll roads.
It's a public-private partnership where CPP Investments invests in units of National Highways Infra Trust (NHIT).
Are there risks? Yes, a slowdown in India can impact these assets in the short run but over the long run, this is where CPP Investments and other large Canadian funds can best play the India theme, through investments in infrastructure.
There are plenty of other risks, currency, regulatory, reputation risks (CDPQ got hit with a bribing scandal there last year) but that doesn't change the immense opportunities that the country offers over the long run.
Speaking of long run, CPP Investments CEO John Graham posted this on LinkedIn this week:
John is the Chair of FCLTGlobal, an organization committed to long-term investing.
Recall, Eduard van Gelderen, PSP's former CIO was appointed Head of Research at FCLTGlobal and I went over that when we caught up in November of last year (see my comment here),
I am having issues with their website lately, Norton antivirus keeps blocking it and I don't know why.
It's extremely annoying but I will end up fixing it.
Still, I want to thank Ashley Vogeli who works with John for sending me a summary of their summit that took place last month and I share these two pages with you:
I'm almost positive the guy on the second page sitting at table 7 is Derek Murphy, the former head of Private Equity at PSP when I was there (although I am wondering what the hell he's doing there).
Anyway, this is going to be a short comment, want to see the news and catch up on all the latest Trump tariff turbulence (so depressing, I can't believe a trade war is a real possibility).
Below,
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