The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 17 December 2018.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 186.31 points, or 0.51% to 36,083.76.

On the BSE, 74,000 shares were traded in the counter so far compared with average daily volumes of 42,000 shares in the past two weeks. The stock had hit a high of Rs 137.70 and a low of Rs 131.40 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 196.73 on 30 April 2018. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 93.15 on 1 October 2018.

Ashoka Buildcon (Ashoka) announced an Rs 150 crore investment commitment into its city gas distribution (CGD) business Unison Enviro (UEPL) by Morgan Stanley India Infrastructure (MSII''). UEPL builds and operates CGD networks across cities and towns in India.

UEPL has just started commercial operations of its first CGD project in Ratnagiri district in Maharashtra state. In the recently concluded ninth round of bidding for CGD licences, UEPL has won two additional CGD licenses, one in Latur & Osmanabad, also in Maharashtra, and one in Chitradurga & Davangere in Karnataka state. UEPL will be leveraging Ashoka's strong project execution skills and MSII team's experience in the midstream and downstream gas infrastructure sectors to successfully implement these projects.

Morgan Stanley is a leading global financial services firm providing investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services. Morgan Stanley India Infrastructure is the India infrastructure investing platform of Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners.

Net profit of Ashoka Buildcon rose 124.39% to Rs 62.09 crore on 101.85% rise in net sales to Rs 764.42 crore in Q2 September 2018 over Q2 September 2017.

Ashoka Buildcon is one of the leading highway developers in India. Besides construction of highways and bridges, the company is also engaged in power transmission and distribution on EPC basis.