InvIT
Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) are collective investment vehicles that enable developers of infrastructure assets to monetise their assets by pooling multiple assets under a single entity (trust structure). The regulations for InvITs were notified by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in September, 2014, known as SEBI (Infrastructure Investment Trusts) Regulations, 2014. Introduction of InvITs is looked at with high expectations for release of developer’s capital which can be deployed in new projects. Apart from equity, InvITs are also aimed at playing a pivotal role in providing wider long-term refinance avenues, thereby creating headroom for banks to fund new projects and in releasing developers’ capital for further deployment in new projects.
InvIT rating is a comment on the quality and adequacy of cash flows available with InvIT for servicing of external debt after assessing the operational and financial risk profile of InvIT’s portfolio thus it reflects the credit worthiness of an InvIT. It factors the external debt availed/proposed to be availed at the InvIT structure, and explicit support like guarantees extended by InvIT (to support debt servicing of any of the SPVs). Further, InvIT’s credit rating is not a comment on credit worthiness of the individual SPVs of the InvIT, pricing of the units issued by InvIT or its market performance and potential returns to the unit holders. Also, it does not comment on the ability of the SPVs to service the debt extended by the InvIT, if any.
