Anantam Highways Trust
IPO Size: Rs. 400 cr
- Entirely Fresh Issue, to repay Rs. 376 cr of Rs. 3,565 cr gross debt
Price band: Rs. 98-100 per unit (not share)
- 75% allocation of net issue to institutional investors and 25% for HNI and retail
Post Money M cap: Rs. 2,175 cr
IPO Date: Tue 7th Oct to Thu 9th Oct 2025, Listing Fri 17th Oct 2025
Grey Market Premium (GMP): We are strongly against ‘grey market premium’ as it is an unofficial figure, against SEBI guidelines.
Not a Developer-led InvIT
Anantam Highways Trust InvIT (Anantam InvIT), sponsored by Alpha Alternatives has a portfolio of 7 hybrid annuity model (HAM) road projects, built by Dilip Buildcon, aggregating 272 kms (1,087 lane kms) in 5 Indian states and 1 union territory. Unlike other listed InvITs, Alpha Alternatives is independent of developer Dilip Buildcon, with the latter’s pre-IPO holding of 54% to ~44% post IPO.
Cash flows are projected to decline from Rs. 695 cr in FY27E to Rs. 616 cr in FY28E and further to Rs. 570 cr in FY29E, as toll collection growth is linear but expenses vary. This may reduce distribution to unit holders and lot will depend on future assets to be acquired by the Trust.
Barely 14% reduction in debt, through repayment. Post IPO, net debt to equity ratio will be as high as 2.7:1, although rated AAA/Stable by ICRA (provisional) and India Ratings. Post listing, Enterprise value will be at Rs. 4,570 cr on net debt of about Rs. 2,400 cr.
Expected Yield
Anantam Trust guides for distribution per unit (DPU) of Rs. 12, to be paid quarterly, split as 40% interest, 35% dividend and 25% capital repayment. Due to higher share of interest component, post-tax yield may be high single digit, which is not attractive for equity investors, used to a minimum 12-13% return on index, over the long term.
Peer Comparison:
At Rs. 100 per unit, Anantam InvIT IPO is offered at 12.5% discount to NAV of Rs. 114.29, as of 30.6.25.
InvITs generally have higher yield than real estate investment trust (REIT) to compensate for lower capital appreciation given finite life of the asset in InvIT. While REITs have rewarded investors, past performance of InvITs have been a mixed bag, both for road and power assets:
- Indus Infra Trust (formerly Bharat Highways, sponsored by GR Infra) is ruling close to NAV, with yield of 10.5% on DPU of Rs. 12.5
- Capital Infra Trust (formerly National Infrastructure Trust, sponsored by Gawar Constriction) is ruling at 17% discount to NAV and 19% yield on CMP based on FY26E DPU of Rs. 14.61. Unit price is down 22% in past 9 months.
- IRB InvIT’s yield is 13%, based on Q1FY26 DPU of Rs. 2, and unit price down 37% in last 8 years.
- Powergrid InvIT for transmission lines, is down 5% in past 4.5 years from 2021 listing, with FY26E DPU of Rs. 12 implying 12.6% yield to current price of Rs. 95
- IndiGrid Infrastructure Trust, power infra InvIT sponsored by KKR and Sterlite Power, trades at 9.5% yield, on Rs. 16 DPU, ruling at 13% premium to NAV of Rs 148 per unit.
Interest rates are expected to decline, but InvIT returns are not guaranteed, and have generally been in between debt and equity. Hence, we find better risk-reward in equity investment than InvIT.
