Trilegal is advising India’s National Infrastructure Trust (NIT), an infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) backed by Gawar Construction on its proposed $190 million initial public offering. Dentons Link Legal and Dentons U.S. are advising the book-running lead managers (BRLMs) on the deal.

NIT’s upcoming listing will be the fifth by an InviT and the second-largest this year, following Bharat Highways InvIT going public earlier this year.

The deal comes amid rising global interest in India’s infrastructure sector, which is gaining from lucrative markets and a strong government push.  In FY 2024, FDI inflows into the infrastructure sector hit $4.2 billion, up from $1.7 billion in the previous fiscal year. 

NIT was set up in September last year and registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India only in March this year. The trust proposes to acquire and manage nine completed, revenue-generating road assets, totalling approximately 683.875 km, which are operated under concessions from highways regulator National Highways Authority of India by special purpose vehicles (SPVs) owned by its sponsor Gawar Construction.

The proceeds from the offer will be used to provide loans to these project SPVs for repaying external borrowings and unsecured loans from the sponsor.

The Trilegal capital market team advising NIT and Gawar Construction on the matter was led by partner Abhinav Maker and comprised associates Veena Raghav, Ipsita Sahoo, and Debarpita Pande.

The Dentons Link Legal team advising the BRLMs SBI Capital Markets and HDFC Bank was led by capital markets practice head Milind Jha and included partner Aditya Bharadwaj, senior associates Kunak Mehta and Aashna Batra, and associate Mrinal Kumar.