Anantam Highways Trust is a listed infrastructure landlord that owns Indian highways and collects a government-backed rent for them - it does not build roads, and it takes no traffic risk. It was formed in 2024 when the Dilip Buildcon group and Alpha Alternatives pooled seven operational road projects into a SEBI-registered Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT) and floated it on the stock exchange, turning long-dated government annuities into a tradable, income-generating security. The recurring logic is simple: buy operational Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) roads where the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has already paid 40% of the project cost upfront and now owes fixed semi-annual payments for the remaining 60%, lock in the maintenance cost with a fixed-price contract, and pass the predictable surplus through to unitholders as distributions. # Business segments A single business - owning and operating a portfolio of government-annuity road assets - with a built-in acquisition pipeline that extends the same model to more roads. ## 1. Annuity road portfolio: a landlord collecting government rent on seven highways **The Trust owns seven operational highways and earns fixed, semi-annual annuity payments from NHAI - a sovereign-backed tenant - with no exposure to how many vehicles use the road.** - **Paid by the government, not by tolls** - every asset operates under the Hybrid Annuity Model, where NHAI pays a fixed sum twice a year for the concession life; traffic and demand risk sit entirely with the government, so a slowdown in freight or passenger movement does not touch the Trust’s income. - **Inflation protection built into the contract** - the operations and maintenance component of the annuity is indexed to inflation, and annuity receipts are linked to MCLR or bank rate mechanisms, which means higher rates actually lift revenue and offset any rise in financing costs. - **Fixed maintenance cost for the entire concession life** - all seven roads are maintained by Dilip Buildcon under long-term, fixed-price contracts that cover even major repairs, insulating the Trust from cost overruns and giving what management calls “complete clarity on the cost” over each asset’s life. - **Seven roads, five states, one counterparty** - the portfolio spans roughly 273 km of highways (about 1,087 lane km) across Karnataka, Telangana, Gujarat, Bihar, and Tamil Nadu-Puducherry, with a weighted average residual concession life of close to 13 years, and every single contract is with NHAI, a sovereign-backed entity. ## 2. ROFO acquisition pipeline: a pre-mapped path to double the portfolio **The Trust holds a Right of First Offer on up to 18 road assets from its sponsors, giving it a visible growth queue without having to bid in open auctions.** - **A five-year option on the sponsors’ roads** - the ROFO framework with Dilip Buildcon and Alpha Alternatives covers road assets the sponsors already own, giving the Trust first refusal on any sale for five years from its October 2025 listing. - **Seven more assets proposed** - the board has cleared the acquisition of seven additional NHAI HAM projects from the sponsors, to be paid for by swapping the project companies’ shares for new Trust units rather than cash, in phased closings during 2026. - **Doubling the footprint in one move** - once the seven new assets are folded in, the portfolio will grow to 14 roads covering roughly 530 km (over 2,200 lane km) across 10 states and one Union Territory, with estimated assets under management of about ₹91,657 million. - **Acquisitions must earn their keep** - every deal is evaluated through the lens of cash flow quality, leverage prudence, and distribution sustainability, with the Trust targeting a funding mix of roughly 46-47% equity and the rest in debt. # Group structure and partners **The Trust is a three-layered structure - sponsors, investment manager, and project manager - with the original developer locked in as the fixed-price maintenance contractor across the entire portfolio.** - **Sponsors with skin in the game** - the Sponsor Group, led by Alpha Alternatives Fund Advisors LLP, held 38% of the units as of March 2026, with corporates holding 53% and institutions and retail making up the rest across roughly 4,700 unitholders. - **Investment decisions sit with a dedicated manager** - the Investment Manager, Alpha Alternatives Fund-Infra Advisors Private Limited, is wholly owned by the Sponsor and handles strategy, capital allocation, and acquisitions, earning a management fee of up to 2.01% of gross revenue from the project companies. - **Day-to-day operations are outsourced to a separate entity** - the Project Manager, Anantam Highways Project Manager Private Limited, oversees maintenance and project-level performance, while the actual road upkeep is executed by Dilip Buildcon under those fixed-price, whole-of-life contracts. - **The board brings the former head of NHAI** - the Investment Manager’s board includes Vijay Chhibber, a former Union Secretary of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and ex-Chairman of NHAI, alongside other independent directors. - **Each road is a separate company, fully owned by the Trust** - the Trust holds 100% of the equity in seven special-purpose vehicles, each holding a single highway concession; cash flows up to the Trust as dividends, interest, and capital gains for distribution to unitholders.