NIIF-backed Aseem Infra Finance to raise Rs 1,000 crore in equity in FY25

At present, NIIF holds a 59% stake, followed by 31% held by the Government of India, and SMBC holds the remaining 10% stake

Aseem Infrastructure Finance Ltd (AIFL), a non-banking financial company (NBFC) backed by India’s sovereign fund NIIF, is looking to raise Rs 1,000 crore of equity from global investors in FY25 to scale up lending activity.

While the capital base with a net worth of about Rs 3,000 crore is adequate to grow the book this year (FY25), the institution will look to raise growth capital in the next year. Aseem plans to raise about Rs 1,000 crore capital from marquee global investors, Virender Pankaj, chief executive officer of AIFL, told Business Standard.

The present capital adequacy ratio is comfortable at over 20 per cent. This capital raise plan factors in the buffers over regulatory requirements, conservative leverage ratio (about four times), and sanctioned pipeline, he added. This would be the second time that AIFL would tap global investors for capital. Earlier, it had raised Rs 317 crore as capital from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) in March 2022, according to rating agency ICRA.

At present, the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) holds a 59 per cent stake, followed by 31 per cent held by the Government of India, and SMBC holds the remaining 10 per cent stake.

As for growth in the portfolio, Pankaj said keeping prepayments/repayments in mind, the outstanding assets may grow by about Rs 3,000 crore in FY25. At present, the sanctioned credit pipeline is over Rs 6,000 crore that would get disbursed over a couple of years. As on March 31, 2024, the company had a diversified sectoral portfolio of Rs 13,284 crore, compared to Rs 11,281 crore as on March 31, 2023.

AIFL expects to leverage synergies with sister concern NIIF Infrastructure Debt Fund (part of the NIIF platform) through the joint underwriting of refinancing deals. It has gradually added green-field projects to its portfolio. Green-field loans formed about 21 per cent of the total book as on March 31, 2024, according to ICRA.

He said being a young entity with about four years of track record, the focus is on setting up a sustainable organisation with a 100-year perspective. The priority till now has been establishing robust risk management and governance practices, building a specialist talent pool with domain expertise and market presence while growing responsibly. It has a track record of nil non-performing assets (NPAs) and zero days past due (DPD) since inception, he added.

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