ToT highway project: ICICI Bank takes over ₹2,000 cr debt financing from Yes Bank

ICICI Bank has taken a bite of the debt funding for India’s first Toll-Operate and Transfer (ToT) highway project by taking over about ₹2,000 crore from the original lender YES Bank Ltd in a move that will likely give a much-needed push and confidence among lenders to fund such deals amidst a general slackness in funding core projects.

YES Bank had underwritten the entire debt portion of about ₹5,000 crore last August, helping the successful bidder, Australia’s Macquarie Group, to achieve financial closure for the project hours before a deadline set by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) ended.

This has allowed Macquarie Group to pay upfront ₹9,681.5 crore to NHAI for the deal which it won through an auction.