OMERS Acquires More of Interise Trust: CCI Approves

New Delhi, Nov 14 (PTI) The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has cleared OMERS Administration Corp's proposal to acquire additional unit-holding in Interise Trust.

Fair trade regulator CCI also approved Ontario Inc and OMERS Infrastructure's holding in Interise Investment Managers Ltd (IIML).

"The proposed transaction concerns acquisition by Ontario Inc and OMERS Infrastructure of additional unitholding and shareholding in Interise and IIML, respectively," the regulator said in a notice on Tuesday.

Ontario Inc and OMERS Infrastructure are entities of OMERS Administration Corporation (OAC). OAC is the administrator of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System Primary Pension Plan (OMERS) and the trustee of the pension funds.

Interise Trust (formerly IndInfravit Trust) was established by Larsen & Toubro Infrastructure Development Projects Ltd, now known as Epic Concesiones 3 Ltd (L&T IDPL).

Interise invests in road infrastructure assets in India through various special purpose vehicles while IIML is the investment manager of Interise.

In September, OMERS has signed an agreement with Allianz Capital Partners (ACP) to acquire ACP's 13.5 per cent stake in Interise Trust, one of the largest Indian Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvIT) in the roads sector.

Pursuant to the acquisition of stake, OMERS holding in Interise Trust will increase to 34.8 per cent from 21.3 per cent while Canada's CPPIB will remain the largest investor.

OMERS has been invested in Interise Trust since 2019.

"The proposed transaction does not result in any horizontal, vertical, or complementary overlaps in any of the plausible relevant markets in India.

"Therefore, the proposed transaction is being notified under the green channel," CCI said.

Under the green channel route, wherein a transaction, which does not raise any risk of an appreciable adverse effect on competition, is deemed to be approved on being intimated to the competition watchdog.