Mumbai, Feb. 10 -- Vinci SA of France is nearing a $2 billion deal to acquire the Indian road assets of Australia's Macquarie Group, two people aware of the matter said, as the Paris-based concessions and construction company prepares to return to the country after 11 years. The Australian asset manager launched the sale of its Indian highway assets in September 2025, initially seeking around $1.2 billion for the portfolio. Maquarie, which acquired these assets in India's first toll-operate-transfer (ToT) auction in 2018 for Rs.9,681 crore (around $1.49 billion), has housed them under Safeway Concessions Pvt. Ltd. The race for the assets narrowed to three contenders over the subsequent months: Vinci's concessions unit, Vinci Highways; IPO-bound EAAA India Alternatives Ltd's Sekura Roads; and KKR's Vertis Infrastructure Trust, as reported by The Economic Times in November 2025. Vinci has emerged as the frontrunner for the deal that could fetch $2 billion, one of the two persons cited above said on the condition of anonymity. The second person confirmed the development, adding that the deal may close in the coming weeks if both parties agree on certain terms. Safeway Concessions owns nine toll road projects spanning 681 km across Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, serving 38 million commuters each year. The company has over 1,700 employees. For Vinci, this would mark the culmination of its attempts to return to India, after it closed its India office in 2015 amid policy shifts in the road assets industry. The company had earlier sought to form a joint venture with BlackRock-backed infrastructure fund Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), but talks fell through, the first person said. Vinci may set up an India unit to house the road assets and avoid putting them into an infrastructure investment trust due to complex regulatory procedures, the second person added. Queries emailed to Vinci and Macquarie for comments remained unanswered. Vinci Highways saw its annual revenue for the year ended December 2025 rise 11% on a like-for-like basis to €543 million. Its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (Ebitda) came up to €282 million, or 51.9% of revenue. The company also registered free cash flows of close to €90 million. Vinci's interest in India's road assets is not an outlier. Media reports suggest Macquarie is also seeking a stake in the Canadian institutional investor CDPQ-backed Maple Infrastructure Trust. KKR has been consolidating its road portfolio under Vertis, as it aims to build a platform large enough to rival Singapore-based Cube Highways. Cube, meanwhile, acquired two annuity road assets in Jammu & Kashmir in 2025. Earlier in 2024, KKR-backed Highways Infrastructure Trust also signed definitive agreements to acquire a dozen road projects from PNC Infratech Ltd for Rs.9,005 crore. The interest in roads is driven by factors such as the availability of a large number of assets that allow large institutional investors, including pension and sovereign wealth funds, to flock in. Macquarie's assets are also sweetened by the fact that they have a 30-year concession period. Vinci's India bet also comes at a time when India's road monetization has a steady outlook. Ratings agency Icra expects the sector to remain healthy in 2025-26. "The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has identified 24 assets across 12 states for monetization via ToT and infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs) modes. The identified 24 assets may garner Rs.21,000-24,000 crore for the NHAI," the agency said in a March 2025 report....