New Delhi, Oct. 9 -- Highway developer Ashoka Buildcon Ltd has moved one step closer to providing a full exit to Macquarie-SBI Infrastructure Fund, a private equity vehicle jointly set up by Australia's Macquarie Group Ltd and State Bank of India more than a decade ago.

Ashoka Buildcon has bought a portion of the stake held by Macquarie-SBI Infrastructure Pte Ltd and the SBI-Macquarie Infrastructure Trust in its subsidiary Ashoka Concessions Ltd (ACL) for Rs 882 crore, the Mumbai-listed company said in a stock exchange filing.

Macquarie-SBI Infrastructure Pte Ltd is a Singapore-based entity that manages a pool of capital raised from foreign investors while SBI-Macquarie Infrastructure Trust is a local entity that manages capital raised from Indian institutions. The Australian company and the state-owned Indian bank had formed the joint venture in 2009 to invest in infrastructure projects in India.

The PE fund committed to invest $150 million, or about Rs 800 crore, in Ashoka Concessions in August 2012. In October last year, Ashoka Buildcon said it had agreed to buy out the PE fund from the unit. The agreement involved the purchase of a 34% equity stake as well as 7.7 million Class A compulsorily convertible debentures and 20 million Class B CCDs for a total of Rs 1,526 crore. It intended to complete the transaction by the end of June this year.

Ashoka Buildcon has now completed the purchase of 4.46 million Class A CCDs and 11.52 million Class B CCDs. The company said it has also extended the long stop date to complete the overall transaction to Oct. 31.

The last year's agreement also involved Viva Highways Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ashoka Buildcon, acquiring a 26% equity stake of the PE fund in its affiliate Jaora Nayagaon Toll Road Company Pvt Ltd for Rs 150 crore. Earlier this month, Viva Highways completed the acquisition for Rs 166 crore.

Ashoka Buildcon also said that it is acquiring the PE fund's stake in a bid to consolidate its holdings and streamline operations in the road infrastructure segment. The move is also expected to enhance Ashoka Concessions' ability to bid for new projects in future.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.