National Highways Infra to debut private bond placement by April: Report

The National Highways Infra Trust (NHIT) is set to tap the domestic corporate bond market via a debut private placement of bonds in the next two months, four sources directly aware of the matter said.

The company is likely to opt for longer-duration bonds of more than 15 years and would look to raise around 20 billion rupees to 30 billion rupees ($241 million-$362 million), the sources said.

"NHIT will go for zero-coupon bonds of maybe 17-year or 18-year duration as that becomes an attractive proposition for long-term investors who do not want to get involved in re-investments for regular receivables for a longer period of time," one of the sources said.

The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Highways Authority of India and manages toll road projects.

Another source said that the company would conduct a board meeting next week and more details on the timing and exact duration for the issue would be finalised at that time.

The sources requested anonymity as they are not authorised to speak to media, while the company did not immediately respond to a Reuters email seeking comment.

Long-term investors are looking to aggressively invest funds in higher-rated securities as they are witnessing heavy inflows, coinciding with some slowdown in overall debt supply.

The company's bonds are rated AAA by rating agencies, which implies the highest amount of security. It had raised 15 billion rupees through its first ever debt issuance when it tapped the market through a public issue in October 2022.

($1 = Rs 82.8660)