Cube Highways and Infrastructure has arguably the largest portfolio of toll highways in India.
The name Cube Highways and Infrastructure is unlikely to ring a bell to many Indians; but, the Singapore based company owns the largest portfolio of toll highways in India. Cube Highways is a portfolio company of I Squared Capital which is a private equity firm focusing on global infrastructure investments. Currently, the Cube Highways’ group portfolio includes 28 projects and over 8600 lane-kilometres of highways across India. It means one cannot travel from the southern tip of Kanyakumari to Uttrar Pradesh on road evading Cube operated toll highways. The 52.3 kilometre Madurai – Kanyakumari four-lane road, the 53.5 kilometre-long Walayar-Vadakkancherry Road in Kerala, the 75 kilometre stretch of highway between Kurnool and Kothakota in Andhra Pradesh, the 73.8 kilometre long road that connects Hazaribagh to Ranchi in Jharkhand, the 78 kilometre four-lane stretch of NH 334 between Muzaffarnagar and Meerut are among the roads operated by the Cube Highways.
Cube Highways has significant presence in South India, especially Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The businesswire reported in 2020 that Cube Highways and Infrastructure entered into an agreement to acquire a 100 percent stake of KNR Walayar Tollways Private Limited (KWTPL), an operating toll road in the state of Kerala, India, early 2020. KWTPL then operated the four-lane 53.5-kilometer toll road in Kerala connecting Walayar with Vadakkancherry on National Highway (NH) 47. The project is a 20-year concession granted in 2013 for strengthening and widening the highway from its original two lanes. Tolling commenced in October 2015.
Gautam Bhandari, who formerly headed the Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Fund in Asia is the director of Cube Highways and Managing Partner at I Squared Capital. According to the company website, the investors in the Cube Highways include I Squared Capital, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, International Finance Corporation, and a consortium of Japanese investors including Mitsubishi Corporation, Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation for Transport and Urban Development, East Nippon Expressway Company Ltd. and Japan Expressway Company International Ltd.