Answered by Manish Satnaliwala | Founder and Managing Director, TruNorth | NorthAxis Advisory
Valuation in an InvIT serves as the regulatory and commercial anchor for asset transfers, public offerings, unit trading, and ongoing asset acquisitions. SEBI regulations require an independent valuation by a registered valuer at least once a year, with half-yearly updates for public InvITs.
Unlike general equity valuation based on P/E multiples, InvIT valuation is predominantly determined using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) method, reflecting the present value of contractual cash flows over the remaining concession or economic life of each infrastructure asset.
The valuation directly establishes the Net Asset Value (NAV) per unit, sets the ceiling for asset acquisition prices from related parties, and dictates the baseline for calculating statutory leverage ratios.
An unrealistic valuation during transaction structuring invites institutional skepticism, wide bid-ask spreads during book building, or post-listing trading discounts that paralyze future capital raising. A credible, rigorously audited valuation ensures pricing integrity.
Scrutinizing the discount rate used by valuers, ensuring it realistically mirrors sovereign risk, asset beta, and prevailing interest rate regimes.
Benchmarking cash flow projections against independent technical consultant (traffic, solar irradiation, degradation) reports.
Confirming whether the asset is a concession with zero terminal value (handover to government) or has perpetual residual value (perpetual transmission/warehousing).
Complying with SEBI rules requiring asset purchases from sponsors not to exceed 110% (or unitholder approval thresholds) of independent valuation.
The market will always test your valuation against cash distribution yield. If an independent valuation claims a portfolio is worth ₹5,000 Crore but the cash flow only yields ₹350 Crore of NDCF, the market will re-price your units to reflect its required 10% yield, regardless of what the valuation report says.