Global private equity firm KKR has signed definitive agreements to acquire Global Infrastructure Partners’ (GIP) entire interest in Highway Concessions One and seven highway assets in India. Highway Concessions One (HC1) is a roads platform that manages and operates seven road assets in India. It currently operates a portfolio of national and state highway assets with a total length of 487 kilometers across seven states including Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana.

The deal is expected to help strengthen and expand India’s national highway network, which serves about 40% of total traffic but accounts for only 2% of the country’s road network. The government is focusing on improving connectivity between cities, with the National Highways Authority of India planning to build 60,000 kilometres of highway in the next five years.

“Roads are one of the largest and most crucial infrastructure assets in India, where the world’s second-largest road network is located. Rapidly increasing passenger and commercial vehicle traffic has driven the strong demand to expand the country’s road network even further and the reciprocal need for investment in the sector,“ says Hardik Shah, managing director and head of India infrastructure at KKR. "This is why the transportation sector is a key area of our infrastructure strategy in India."

The acquisition is the company's third investment in India from the KKR Asia Pacific Infrastructure Fund, and its first investment in Asia’s transport sector. Recent infrastructure investments in India include India Grid Trust (IndiGrid), an infrastructure investment trust, and Virescent Infrastructure, a renewable energy company.

EY and Deloitte acted as KKR’s advisers, while AZB & Partners and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett acted as its legal advisers.

KKR sponsors funds that invest in private equity, credit and real assets and has strategic partners that manage hedge funds. Its insurance subsidiaries offer retirement, life and reinsurance products under the management of The Global Atlantic Financial Group.