CAPITALINFRA — earnings call
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Prepared remarks
Unattributed
“Capital Infra Trust
Q2 & H1 FY26 Earnings Conference Call”
November 18, 2025
MANAGEMENT: MR.
HARE KRISHNA – JOINT CHIEF EXECUTIVE
AMIT KUMAR – CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
Moderator
Capital Infra Trust
November 18, 2025
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Capital Infra Trust financial results
call for the Quarter and Half Year Ended September 30, 2025.
Capital Infra Trust will
be represented by Mr.
Hare Krishna, Joint CEO and Mr.
Amit Kumar, CFO.
conference call may contain forward-looking statements about the company which are
based on the beliefs, opinions, and expectations of the company as on date of this call.
These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risk and
uncertainties that are difficult to predict.
As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the
listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the
presentation concludes.
Should you need assistance during the conference call, please
signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touch-tone phone.
Please note that this conference is being recorded.
I now hand over the conference to
Parikshit Kandpal from HDFC Securities.
Thank you and over to you, Mr.
Parikshit Kandpal:
Thank you, Renju.
So, without taking further time, I'd like to hand over the call to Mr.
Hare for his opening remarks.
Over to you, Mr.
Mr. Hare Krishna
Thanks, Parikshit.
Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today.
delighted to share that we have made strong progress during the quarter, with reduced
leverage, a healthier balance sheet and we are on track to add three operational ROFO
assets within the next two months.
These steps position us for significant AUM growth,
as per our guidance during the IPO and reinforce our commitment to long-term value
I'd like to take you through the highlights of the quarter and three key strategic
initiatives that are underway currently.
First and foremost, we are focused on Strengthening the balance sheet.
successfully completed a preferential issue of INR 345 crores, meaningfully improving
our financial position.
This infusion has reduced our net debt from ~55% in June, 2025
to 45.6% as of November 14, 2025 restoring regulatory headroom and lowering
financial costs.
In total, we plan to repay INR 420 crores of existing borrowings by
December, underscoring our commitment to disciplined capital management and a
robust balance sheet.
Our financial fundamentals remain strong, supported by AAA/Stable rating from CRISIL
and CARE, with healthy annuity inflows, stable operating expenses, and competitive
borrowing costs.
Going forward, we intend to opt for repo-linked borrowings rather than
fixed-cost debentures, creating a natural hedge and further strengthening our debt
We will maintain a conservative approach in our future borrowings, with a clear
focus on keeping the leverage in the range of 45% to 47% in the short term.
Coming to second priority is the portfolio expansion through value-accretive
Our growth plan for FY26 is progressing well.
We are leveraging our
Capital Infra Trust
November 18, 2025
ROFO rights to acquire operational HAM assets namely Jodhpur Ring Road in
Rajasthan, Hasanpur-Bakhtiyarpur in Bihar, and Champa-Korba in Chhattisgarh.
These assets have a residual concession period of over 13 years, providing long-term
revenue visibility and predictable annuity inflows, making them highly accretive for
Collectively, these acquisitions will add 164 kms of operational highways,
broaden our geographic presence, and increase our AUM by over 60% from INR 4,282
crores to approximately INR 6,800 crores by FY26.
Furthermore, the asset acquisitions
are being done at a 9% discount to the enterprise value of INR 2,590 crores, ensuring
value accretion for investors.
Thirdly, we remain Committed to delivering consistent DPU distributions to our unit
Since inception, we have declared a cumulative DPU of INR 30.8 per unit,
reflecting our focus on unitholders' returns.
In the second quarter, our board has
approved distribution of INR 3.25 per unit, totaling INR 103.6 crores.
Going forward, our
priority is to ensure a sustainable and predictable distribution pattern.
addition of high-quality assets will further strengthen cash flows and support this
Coming to the performance and industry highlights, Q2 FY26 was marked by
operational stability across all the nine HAM assets that we have, with consistent riding
quality and maintenance standards.
Our annuity receipts stood at INR 523 crores, which was in line with our estimates.
maintained consistent distributions, aligned with our H1 FY26 guidance.
under management currently stands at INR 4,282 crores.
The broader industry dynamics also remains favorable, the road sector continues to
see strong momentum, with HAM continuing as the preferred model for project awards.
Government-initiatives and sustained budgetary allocation for the road sector further
strengthens the long-term outlook for the sector and creates a solid pipeline of
opportunities for InvITs like ours.
Looking ahead, our strategy remains firmly focused
on building a diversified portfolio of HAM assets, which are backed by predictable
inflation-linked annuity inflows.
And in turn, we will continue to operate these assets in an efficient manner and maintain
an optimum leverage.
Our clear roadmap targets an AUM of at least INR 10,000 crores
by FY27, through a pipeline of 17 ROFO assets from sponsor and acquisition of third-
party assets, thereby ensuring growth and consistent distribution.
I will now hand over
Amit for a brief on financial performance.
Mr. Amit Kumar
Good afternoon, everyone.
I will take you through the key financial
updates of the quarter and half year.
On a consolidated basis, our total income stood
at INR 393 crores, with a net profit of INR 5 crores in H1FY26, as compared to a total
income of INR 159 crores and loss of INR 37 crores in the last quarter.
Since the Trust
got listed in the month of January 2025, comparatives of H1 FY25 are not available.
Capital Infra Trust
November 18, 2025
While there was a net profit of INR 78 crores in Q2FY26, it got offset to an extent of INR
73 crores by net loss booked in Q1FY26, which was mainly due to modification loss on
financial assets, due to change in the bank rate by RBI to the tune of 75 bps since the
start of this current year.
Talking about the profit and loss on a standalone basis, the Trust recorded a total
income of INR 401 crores in H1FY26, consisting of dividend from subsidiaries of INR
194 crores in Trust income on loans extended by Trust to SPVs of INR 205 crores and
other treasury income of INR 1 crores.
EBITDA for the H1FY26 stood at INR 399 crores.
During the current half year, an impairment in the value of investment is booked
amounting to INR 311 crores.
The main reason for the same was interim distribution of
INR 307 crores to the unitholders in Jun'25, change in bank rates and approval pending
for GST claims due to change in law from NHAI.
For the period under consideration, the total distribution per unit for the H1FY26 works
out to INR 6.86 per unit, out of which INR 3.61 per unit was already paid for Q1FY26
and remaining INR 3.25 per unit is proposed to be paid now.
In the form of interest of
INR 2.52 per unit, taxable dividend of INR 0.71 per unit and other income of INR 0.02
Since distribution from the SPVs to Trust are tax-free in the hands of the Trust, the tax
outflow on standalone basis is only on the other income earned by the Trust.
summary, Capital Infra Trust is entering into a new phase of growth driven by balance
sheet deleveraging, value-accretive acquisitions and discipline capital allocation, all
aimed at delivering sustainable long-term value for our stakeholders.
Thank you for your attention.
All other information is available in our presentation.
can now open the floor for any questions you may have.
Questions and answers
Moderator
The first question comes from the line of Mr.
Pravesh Kumavat from
Kumavat Investments.
Please go ahead.
Mr. Pravesh Kumavat
The first question is with the current average cost of debt that we have is around 7.7%
or thereabouts.
I wanted to ask what is your planned approach to raising the future debt
and how do you intend to optimize the consolidated cost of borrowings over that?
Mr. Hare Krishna
As of now, the average cost of our current borrowings is around 7.6%.
earlier, we are pretty much working towards the acquisition of the 3 ROFO assets.
that, we would be taking additional debt as well, for which we are in discussions with
banks right now.
We anticipate getting a cost of around 7.1% to 7.2% for the additional
Even in the existing borrowings, we have one series which is due for renewal
We also want to refinance in the similar range of around 7.1% to 7.2%.
Mr. Pravesh Kumavat
Just connected to this, I wanted to ask if you can outline the debt strategy going forward.
What will be your debt to AUM ratio if we continue to raise the debt and how do we plan
to keep this leverage around 45% mark?
Capital Infra Trust
November 18, 2025
Mr. Hare Krishna
See our InvIT IPO happened in January, 2025 and till now we are making good
distributions, our leverage needs to be within 49% mark.
So, in the medium term, our
strategy would be to keep our leverage between 45% to 47%.
Once we have made six
distributions, then we will revisit this strategy and may look at increasing our overall
leverage to AUM in the range of 55% to 60%.
But till that time, we will continue to
maintain it in the range of 45% to 47% mark.
Mr. Pravesh Kumavat
Just a last bit, will NCDs be our primary route going forward as well as we expand our
Mr. Hare Krishna
100% of our debt as of today is in the form of NCDs.
The additional borrowings which
we are going to take, will try to bring it in the form of term loans which are linked to repo-
rate so that there is a natural hedge between the inflows which we receive and our
intrinsic expenditure.
So that's our strategy going forward.
Mr. Pravesh Kumavat
If I have more questions, I'll come in the queue.
Moderator
Next question comes on the line of Mr.
Rohan Shah with AJ Investments.
Please go ahead.
Mr. Rohan Shah
Thanks for the opportunity.
So, I just wanted to understand, as our NDCF, Net
Distributable Cash Flow for Q2 was INR 104 crores.
So, could you share how NDCF is
expected to evolve after integration of three ROFO assets?
Mr. Hare Krishna
See, with the addition of the three ROFO assets, our NDCF is going to improve only
because these three are operational assets.
For two of them, we have already received
three annuities.
And the third one, we will be receiving one annuity soon.
If I were to answer it from other parameters, then for instance, with regard to the
enterprise value, the assets are coming at 9% discount to the fair market value.
therefore, they are going to be accretive.
At this stage, because we are still working on
the acquisition, and, we are still working on the fund raise.
Therefore, to anticipate the
number of units to be allocated for this acquisition, is still open at this stage.
it will be difficult to comment on the precise NDCF addition which will happen from the
But overall, it will remain accretive.
Mr. Rohan Shah
That's helpful, sir.
So, one more question.
Can you provide the current split
between fixed versus floating debt and the targeted mix over the next 12 months?
Mr. Hare Krishna
So as of now, we have two series of debentures.
For the first series, the rate of interest
is fixed for three years since we took it, which is up to March '28.
For the other series,
the cost of debt is fixed until March '26.
Mr. Rohan Shah
So that's from my side.
Thank you, sir.
Moderator
Next question comes from the line of Advit Kumar with AV Advisors.
Capital Infra Trust
November 18, 2025
Mr. Advit Kumar
Thank you for taking my question, sir.
I have a few questions to ask.
So, I wanted to
understand what is the expected timeline for completing the acquisition of three assets
And what is your estimate of increase in NAV once these assets are
Mr. Hare Krishna
See, as of now, we are working on raising both equity and debt capital to finance the
And we intend to close out over the next 60 to 90 days from today.
received the unitholders’ approval in October, 2025.
And thereafter, we have been
working in this regard.
With regards to the NAV per se, our current NAV as of today is around 67.48/unit.
preferential allotment, this will marginally increase further to the range of around 69/unit.
Again, with regards to the NAV impact of the three assets, we can give an exact number
only when the number of units and the unit price of equity fund raise is being
established, which we are yet to do.
So therefore, at this stage, the estimate would be somewhere in the range of INR 73 to
INR 75 once the equity raise and debt raise has happened, and the assets have been
Mr. Advit Kumar
I understand, sir.
But then, sir, one more thing.
On these three right of first offer,
so assets that are being acquired, what is the expected equity IRR also?
it compare with the current portfolio we have, current portfolio IRR?
Mr. Hare Krishna
So, for these three assets which are proposed to acquire right now, since they are at
9% discount to the enterprise value, the corresponding standalone IRR of these three
ROFO assets is quite high.
It's in the range of above 14% range per se on a standalone
basis for these three assets.
Mr. Advit Kumar
Sir, last question from my end.
Going forward, what is your long-
term approach or the guidance for DPU?
If you could share some outlook for the next
year and maybe, let's say a couple of years or at least next year?
Mr. Hare Krishna
So far, this financial year, we are pretty much in line with the guidance which
we have provided in the beginning of the year.
Going forward, our projects can sustain
a cash yield of somewhere between 10% to 12% in that range.
And that's what we can
provide right now.
The exact guidance we can give only at the beginning of the year.
As of now, what we
can convey that our strategy would be distributing cash yield of 10% to 12%.
Mr. Advit Kumar
Understood, sir.
I think this answers my questions.
Thank you so much for
answering them in detail.
Moderator
Next question comes from the line of Ms.
Aisha Shah with Value Worth
Please go ahead.
Capital Infra Trust
November 18, 2025
Ms. Aisha Shah
Thank you for the opportunity.
Sir, you have mentioned regarding INR 420 crores debt
repayment plan by December.
Post this reduction how do you see the leverage ratio
shaping up by FY26 end?
Mr. Hare Krishna
We plan to repay our debentures by around INR 420 crores, of which INR 345 crores
is from the preferential allotment and additional INR 75 crores from our internal accrual.
And as of November 14, 2025, the debt ratio and the leverage, which is around 45.6%,
including this cash element as well.
So, from here on, we would endeavor to remain in
the range of 45% to 47% mark with regards to the debt leverage to EV ratio.
Ms. Aisha Shah
Thank you, sir.
So that's all from my side.
Moderator
Next question comes from the line of Anant Mundra with Mytemple Capital.
Please go ahead.
Mr. Anant Mundra
Thank you for the opportunity.
Sir, just wanted to understand the current NAV
calculation is based on what borrowing cost, like what is the borrowing cost that has
been assumed by the value of?
Mr. Hare Krishna
So, that's based on the current borrowing cost, which has been assumed by the valuer
which is 7.68%.
Mr. Anant Mundra
But there is a reset clause, right?
So, this rate should go down in future.
understanding is correct, right?
Mr. Hare Krishna
Yes, that's correct.
And that's what we are also working towards.
managing the additional borrowing, which we are going to take immediately to finance
the acquisition of three assets.
That's going to reduce the overall cost and partially, one
of the series of NCDs, for which put call option is available in March next year.
we will try to refinance them so that we have an efficient debt profile and competitive
Mr. Anant Mundra
So, that upside has not been captured in the current NAV calculation because
that could potentially come in future.
So, March’26 is the first NCD reset clause, right?
Mr. Hare Krishna
You are correct.
The valuations are based on the current cost of debt, which is at
So, this will happen once we will completed the exercise.
Mr. Anant Mundra
And sir the prepayments you are doing for the NCD, I think about INR 420 crores.
So, is there any prepayment penalty also that we will have to pay on this?
Mr. Hare Krishna
No, not for this.
This is permitted and we will not be paying any prepayment penalties
for paying this now.
Mr. Anant Mundra
And sir by when do we plan to complete the three acquisitions?
timeline that we have?
Capital Infra Trust
November 18, 2025
Mr. Hare Krishna
So, we are pretty much working on it.
Our endeavor would be to complete it within the
next 60 to 90 days.
That is our target right now.
Mr. Anant Mundra
And how are we trying to fund the equity portion?
Will it be a unit swap or will we
be doing another pref.?
Mr. Hare Krishna
In total, we will be requiring around INR 2,400 crores to complete the acquisition, of
which at this stage our planning is to raise equity funds of around INR 1,250 crores,
either through QIP or a preferential allotment and around INR 1,150 crores as debt, that
is our overall target right now.
Mr. Anant Mundra
And sir, just one final question.
What is the investment manager and the project
manager's fee that is paid from the trust and is there also any kind of some incentive
fee that the manager is entitled for on acquisition?
Mr. Hare Krishna
No, not really.
The investment management and the project management fee pretty
much remains the same, which was disclosed at the time of IPO.
For every project, our
investment management fee is 1.1% of the revenue.
And project management fee is a
fixed amount, which is payable for completing the entire operations and maintenance
of all the assets, which was, again agreed at the beginning of the project itself and at
the time of IPO.
So, there is no variation in that part of the fee.
Mr. Anant Mundra
And incentive fees?
Mr. Hare Krishna
We don't have any incentive fee over here.
It's a mix of only investment management
fees, which comes to investment manager, and project management fees, which is
payable to GCL as part of project management fee.
Mr. Anant Mundra
And sir, any update or any color that you can give on how are we thinking to
acquire any non-sponsored assets?
Mr. Hare Krishna
So, I want to update you on our expansion plan, first starting with the sponsor
assets itself, there were ROFO on about 17 assets, of which three we are acquiring
right now, 14 would be ready to acquire over the next one to three years, 4 to 5 assets
would be ready in the next financial year as well, which potentially means EV of around
INR 3,000 crores to INR 4,000 crores can be added with the sponsor assets
In addition, we are targeting to acquire third-party assets as well, which we are working
And in next financial year, we target to acquire at least have one to three assets in
With regards to strategy, we will continue to focus right now on HAM based
We would not like to diversify in toll assets at this stage.
Our immediate strategy
will be to just focus on HAM assets from third-party developers.
Mr. Anant Mundra
That's it from my end.
Mr. Hare Krishna
Capital Infra Trust
November 18, 2025
Moderator
Next question comes from the line of Rohan Shah with AJ Investments.
Please go ahead.
Mr. Rohan Shah
Thanks for taking my follow-up question, sir.
So, I just wanted to understand, sir,
can you provide an explanation about the InvITs strategy going forward, like five years
kind of vision?s
Mr. Hare Krishna
I think if I were to talk about a five-year vision, our strategy would be to continue
to focus on adding HAM-based road projects, because that's what our expertise is and
that's what we started with.
So, over the next five years, our strategy will be essentially
to not only focus on the assets for which we have ROFO from sponsors, but third-party
acquisitions as well.
So that in five years' time, we would be building a decent portfolio, which is diversified
and provides a stable annuity cash flow and can be distributed; thereby generating a
stable dividend income for the unitholder.
Broadly, that's what I can summarize at this
The key elements would be focus on the HAM-based road sector as of now,
target sponsor-based ROFO assets and third-party assets altogether.
Mr. Rohan Shah
Understood, sir.
That's helpful.
So, one more on the industry base.
industry scenario?
Are you seeing more projects opportunities going forward?
Mr. Hare Krishna
See, we all are aware that in the last 12 months, the number of projects being awarded
by NHAI has been relatively less compared to the previous cycle.
understand that the allocation overall is going to remain the same and the activity is
going to pick up in the second half of the financial year.
So therefore, from an industry perspective, we remain optimistic that there will be
enough opportunities for players like us to acquire assets from, even in the short term
and the medium term, both of them.
Because these are integral part of growth for the
country, for the nation.
And the overall allocation of the government in this sector
remains at the healthy level, though it may be slightly less than 2 years before, but it
overall remains at the healthy level.
Mr. Rohan Shah
Understood, sir.
That's from my side.
Thank you, sir.
Moderator
Next question comes from the line of Anjali Singh with Bansal Family Office.
Please go ahead.
Ms. Anjali Singh
Hi, thanks for the opportunity.
So, my first question is, the ROFO valuation summary
shows a combined EV of around INR 2,590 crores.
So, what is expected initial yield
contribution to NDCF post-acquisition?
Capital Infra Trust
November 18, 2025
Mr. Hare Krishna
Yes, the enterprise value is INR 2,590.
Now, it's very difficult to comment upon what
would be the yield in the first year of the project.
That's something we'll be able to
convey to you, once we have acquired and we have recast the balance sheet.
But overall, because these are being attractively priced because of the inherent
discount they are going to be accretive to the existing investors.
And they are going to
enhance the IRR and help in sustaining the DPU.
Ms. Anjali Singh
So, one more question.
So, over the next 24 months, how many additional ROFO
assets do you expect to add beyond the three targeted this year?
Mr. Hare Krishna
Around four to five ROFO assets, again will be ready for acquisition by June to July
Additional two to three will be ready towards the end of FY27.
we understand right now based on the progress of the ROFO assets as we speak right
Ms. Anjali Singh
Thank you so much.
Moderator
Ladies and gentlemen, as there are no further questions, we have reached
the end of question-and-answer session.
I would now like to hand the conference over
to the management for closing comments.
Mr. Amit Kumar
Thank you, everyone, for joining the call.
Capital Infra Trust, as we already
see, is entering into a new phase of growth, which will be driven by balance sheet
deleveraging, value-accretive acquisitions, and disciplined capital allocation.
aimed at delivering sustainable and long-term value to our stakeholders.
once again for joining the call.
Moderator
On behalf of Capital Infra Trust, that concludes this conference.
for joining us.
You may now disconnect your lines.