Apis Partners plans to pick 25% stake for $110 million in L&T Infra Debt Fund

British private equity fund Apis Partners Thursday said it is picking up a 25.1 per cent stake for USD 110 million in L&T Infra Debt Fund (IDF), the infra refinancing arm of EPC major.

L&T IDF has a loan book of Rs 8,000 crore and the investment will help grow the book, an official statement said.

Apis Growth Fund II has entered into a binding agreement to acquire the stake in L&T IDF, it said, adding 70 per cent of the investment will come as growth capital while 30 per cent is a secondary transaction where existing shareholders are exiting their holdings, it said.

The investment will support the growth of L&T IDFs loan book across sectors such as renewable energy, roads, power transmission, airports and ports, it said.

The funding will also strengthen the IDF's capital structure, technology and digitisation strategy, it added.

Partnering with Apis will support the IDF in accessing low-cost international sources of funds which will be utilised to refinance operational infrastructure projects in India, the statement said.

As of December, it had a loan book of Rs 8,000 crore spread across 94 projects with half of the portfolio being guaranteed by a government authority, it said, adding there is no asset quality stress.

"This partnership with Apis is a reflection of the value creation that the Indian infrastructure financing space offers to investors looking for sustainable returns in the long term," Dinanath Dubhashi, the managing director and chief executive of L&T Finance Holdings, the promoter of the IDF said.

Udayan Goyal, co-founder and managing partner of Apis Partners said the IDF has "an exceptional track record in refinancing high potential infrastructure projects and raising funds at competitive fixed rates in tenors of up to 20 years".

The L&T Finance Holdings scrip closed 1.61 per cent down at Rs 137.50 a piece on the BSE, as against a 0.83 per cent correction in the benchmark.

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