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| Formerly | John Laing & Sons |
|---|---|
| Company type | Private |
| Industry | Infrastructure |
| Founded | 1848; 178 years ago (1848) |
| Headquarters | London, England |
Key people | Andrew Truscott (CEO) |
| Parent | KKR |
| Website | www |
John Laing Group is a British investor, developer and operator of privately financed, public sector infrastructure projects such as roads, railways, hospitals and schools throughpublic-private partnership (PPP) andprivate finance initiative (PFI) arrangements. It was listed on theLondon Stock Exchange and was a constituent of theFTSE 250 Index prior to its acquisition byKKR.
The company has its origins in 1848, when James Laing and his wife Ann Graham embarked on a home construction venture inCumberland before relocating toCarlisle. James' son, John Laing, took over the company and pursued larger contracts in the region. By 1920,John William Laing had taken charge and continued to expand the business; it became a limited company in 1920 and established its headquarters atMill Hill,London two years later. Its activities during and afterWorld War II, particularly in the reconstruction efforts, increased the company's prominence. In January 1953, John Laing & Sons was listed on the London Stock Exchange, at which point the business had roughly 10,000 employees.William Kirby Laing andJohn Maurice Laing, who had joined the company in 1950, jointly took over in 1957.
During the latter half of the twentieth century, the company diversified into road construction and built numerous power stations as well as continuing to construct houses. In 1985,Martin Laing became the chairman and pursued further diversification; shortly thereafter, its home construction grew internationally, particularly in theMiddle East,Continental Europe, and theUnited States. While the late 1990s was a time of rapid expansion for the business expanded rapidly, profitability suffered, leading to job losses and the disposal of its construction division toO'Rourke for £1 in 2001 while the property developments divisions were sold toKier Group and its house building arm was also divested toGeorge Wimpey during the following year. In place of construction, John Laing Group focused on PPP / PFI opportunities.
In December 2006, John Laing plc was acquired by the private equity arm ofHenderson Group. A year later, the Laing Rail division, which had shareholdings inChiltern Railways,London Overground Rail Operations andWrexham & Shropshire, was sold toDeutsche Bahn. John Laing was part of theAgility Trains consortium that was awarded theIntercity Express Programme contract in 2012. In October 2013, the company sold its facilities management business toCarillion. TheJohn Laing Environmental Fund was established in 2014. During February 2015, the company was listed on the London Stock Exchange again. In September 2021, KKR completed the acquisition of John Laing Group.
The business can trace its roots back to 1848 when James Laing (born in 1816), along with his wife Ann Graham, and some employees whom they had hired, built a house on a plot of land that they had bought for £30 inCumberland. The £150 proceeds from the first house financed the building of the next two houses on the same plot of land, one of which (Caldew House inSebergham)[1] was kept by the Laing family to live in. Both the family and the business later moved nearCarlisle.[2]
When James Laing died in 1882, his son, John Laing (born in 1842) took over the running of the company.[3] John began to undertake larger contracts, but opted to confine the business' activities to theCarlisle area.[2] John's son,John William Laing, (born in 1879) was working for the business before he was 20 years old, and so it became John Laing & Son. By 1910, John William Laing was running the business. More employees were recruited and larger projects were undertaken, including factory construction.[2] During 1920, the firm became a limited company, and two years later moved its headquarters to a 13 acres (5.3 ha) site atMill Hill in north-westLondon.[2] DuringWorld War II, the company was one of the contractors involved in building theMulberry harbour units.[4] Its activities during the conflict, as well in the immediate years of reconstruction following it, greatly bolstered the company's reputation.[3]
During 1950,William Kirby Laing andJohn Maurice Laing, the fifth generation of the founding family, joined the company.[2] John Laing & Sons was listed for the first time on theLondon Stock Exchange in January 1953;[5] at the time, the Laing family along with its trusts and charities held the majority of the shares. John William Laing became the chairman while his sons became joint managing directors. By this time, the number of employees was around 10,000, and every site had a quality supervisor. John William Laing retired in 1957. During 1964, the company acquired the rival civil engineering businessHolloway Brothers.[6]
Under William Kirby Laing and John Maurice Laing, the company continued to expand, winning contracts for power stations and diversifying into road construction while continuing to build houses. In 1985,Martin Laing, of the sixth generation of the founding family, became chairman.[7] Martin Laing determined that the company should begin to diversify. Home construction in theUnited Kingdom,Saudi Arabia,Oman, theUnited Arab Emirates,Iraq,Spain, andCalifornia was now one of the major sources of the company's growth.[8] During 1969, the company opted to invest in atoll road in Spain, marking its first infrastructure investment in 1969 in a toll road in Spain (the 65km Europistas project). Another milestone was attained in 1990 in the construction of theSecond Severn Crossing, which was the first PPP to be conducted by John Laing.[9]
During June 1995, amid theprivatisation of British Rail, John Laing backed amanagement buyout that was theChiltern Railways franchise.[10] In early 1999, a controlling interest in Chiltern Railways was purchased.[11][12]
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During the late 1990s, the business expanded rapidly, to the extent that, for the year ended 31 December 2001, its turnover was in excess of £1 billion. However, as the company celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1998, it faced falling profits following significant losses on certain construction contracts (including theCardiff Millennium Stadium, theNational Physical Laboratory, a disastrous PFI scheme inTeddington, west London, andNo 1 Poultry in theCity of London),[3] and sustained problems within its construction division related to competition and overcapacity.[8] Accordingly, in 2001, the company cut 800 jobs,[13] and disposed of its construction division toO'Rourke for £1, far less than the roughly £100 million that had been anticipated.[3][14] Shortly thereafter, Sir Martin Laing stepped down as executive chairman in favour of Bill Forrester.[15][3]
The business became orientated itself around itsPPP / PFI activities;[16] by 2002, it had structured itself into two main divisions, namely Homes and Investments.[15] In April 2002, Laing's property developments divisions were sold toKier Group,[17] and its house building arm was also sold toGeorge Wimpey later that same year.[18] During 2003, its affordable housing division was sold via amanagement buy-out.[19]
In December 2006, John Laing plc was acquired by the private equity arm ofHenderson Group.[20] During June 2007, a 50:50 joint venture between Laing Rail andMTR Corporation,London Overground Rail Operations, was awarded theLondon Overground concession.[21][22] Several months later, the Laing Rail division, which by then operatedChiltern Railways and (jointly) London Overground, as well as held a stake inWrexham & Shropshire, was put up for sale;[23][24] the division was purchased by German rail operatorDeutsche Bahn in January 2008.[25][26]
In June 2008, John Laing in a joint venture withHitachi and Barclays Private Equity formedAgility Trains to bid for the contract to design, manufacture, and maintenance of a fleet of long-distance trains for theIntercity Express Programme.[27] The bid was successful, leading to a £4.5bn contract for new trains for bothGreater Western andInterCity East Coast franchises being finalised in mid 2012.[28][29] The company established theJohn Laing Infrastructure Fund in 2010 in a £270 million public launch; this entity focuses on the day-to-day operations of completed infrastructure.[30][31] During October 2013, the company sold its facilities management business toCarillion.[32]
In March 2014,Olivier Brousse was appointed as Chief Executive; he avidly pursued further PPPs for infrastructure delivery and management services.[30] TheJohn Laing Environmental Fund was established in 2014 in a £174 million public launch.[33] In February 2015, the company became listed on the London Stock Exchange again.[9]
During September 2018, John Laing sold John Laing Infrastructure Fund Ltd. to Dalmore Capital and Equitix Investment Management.[34] In June 2019, John Laing sold the Investment Advisory Agreement between John Laing Capital Management Ltd. and John Laing Environmental Fund Ltd. to Foresight Group CI Ltd.[34]
In May 2021,KKR announced that it has agreed terms to purchase John Laing Group in a deal valued at about £2 billion. John Laing confirmed that it would unanimously recommend that its shareholders back the deal and that it considered the terms of the acquisition to be fair and reasonable.[3][35] In September 2021 the transaction was completed.[36]
Significant investments include:
John Laing’s former construction division, now absorbed intoLaing O'Rourke, undertook a number of landmark projects including:
The subsidiary Laing Rail owned and operatedChiltern Railways and was joint operator ofLondon Overground (withMTR Corporation) andWrexham & Shropshire (withRenaissance Trains). In 2008, Laing Rail was sold toDeutsche Bahn.[25]
Along withSir Robert McAlpine andGeorge Wimpey, Laing is mentioned in the opening preamble toDominic Behan's 1960 satirical Irish ballad, "McAlpine's Fusiliers".[75] It is also mentioned in another Dominic Behan song, "Building Up and Tearing England Down" (sometimes called "Paddy on the Road").[76]
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