John Laing Group plc
TypePrivate
IndustryInfrastructure
Founded1848 (1848)
HeadquartersLondon, England, UK
Key people
Will Samuel (Chairman)
Olivier Brousse, (CEO)
RevenueDecrease £25 million (2020)[1]
Decrease £−53 million (2020)[1]
Decrease £−66 million (2020)[1]
OwnerKKR
Websitewww.laing.com

John Laing Group plc is a British investor, developer and operator of privately financed, public sector infrastructure projects such as roads, railways, hospitals and schools through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) and Private Finance Initiative (PFI) arrangements. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index until the court approved the acquisition of the company by KKR in September 2021.

History

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 in Cumberland. 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 in Sebergham)[2] was kept by the Laing family to live in. The family and the business later moved near Carlisle.[3]

When James Laing died in 1882, his son, John Laing (born in 1842) took over the running of the company. John began to undertake larger contracts but confined the business to the Carlisle area.[3] 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 and Son. By 1910, John William Laing was running the business. More employees were recruited and larger projects were undertaken, including factory construction.[3] In 1920, the firm became a limited company, and two years later moved its headquarters from Carlisle to a 13 acres (5.3 ha) site at Mill Hill in north-west London.[3] During the Second World War, the company was one of the contractors engaged in building the Mulberry harbour units.[4] William Kirby Laing and John Maurice Laing, the fifth generation of the founding family, joined the company in 1950.[3] John Laing & Sons (Holdings) Ltd was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in January 1953.[5] The family and its trusts and charities held the majority of the shares. John William Laing became the chairman, and 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. The company acquired Holloway Brothers in 1964.[6]

The Second Severn Crossing built by John Laing

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 the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Spain, and California was now one of the major sources of the company's growth. As the company celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1998, it faced falling profits caused by cost overruns on the Millennium project and continuing problems within its construction division, related to competition and overcapacity.[8] In 1999, John Laing plc purchased a controlling interest in the Chiltern Railway franchise[9] and by 2002 had structured itself into two main divisions, namely Homes and Investments. It underwent yet another change when Sir Martin Laing retired in early 2002. Bill Forrester took over as executive chairman.[10]

The Millennium Stadium, built by John Laing

The business expanded rapidly in the late 1990s, such that for the year ended 31 December 2001 its turnover was in excess of £1 billion. Following significant losses on certain construction contracts (including the Cardiff Millennium Stadium, the National Physical Laboratory, a disastrous PFI scheme in Teddington, west London, and No 1 Poultry in the City of London)[11] the company cut 800 jobs[12] and in 2001 disposed of its construction division to O'Rourke for £1.[13] It focused instead on its PPP / PFI activities.[14] Laing's property developments divisions were sold to Kier Group,[15] and its house building arm was sold to George Wimpey in 2002.[16] In 2003, its affordable housing division was sold in a management buy-out.[17]

In December 2006, John Laing plc was acquired by the private equity arm of Henderson Group.[18] The Laing Rail division - operators of Chiltern Railways and London Overground (with MTR Corporation), and holders of a stake in the open-access railway operator Wrexham & Shropshire - was put up for sale by in September 2007.[19] The division was purchased by German rail operator Deutsche Bahn in January 2008.[20]

In June 2008, John Laing formed a consortium with Hitachi and Barclays Private Equity called Agility Trains to bid for the contract to design, manufacture, and maintain a fleet of long-distance trains for the Intercity Express Programme.[21] The bid was successful and the contract was awarded to the consortium on the 12 February 2009.[21] The company established the John Laing Infrastructure Fund in 2010 in a £270 million public launch.[22] Then in October 2013, the company sold its facilities management business to Carillion.[23] Olivier Brousse was appointed as Chief Executive in March 2014.[24] The John Laing Environmental Fund was established in 2014 in a £174 million public launch.[25] In February 2015, the company became listed on the London Stock Exchange again.[26]

In September 2018, John Laing sold the John Laing Infrastructure Fund Ltd. to Dalmore Capital and Equitix Investment Management.[27] 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.[27]

On 19 May 2021, Private equity firm KKR said it has agreed to buy British infrastructure investor John Laing Group in a deal valued at about £2 billion ($2.84 billion). John Laing confirmed that it would unanimously recommend to shareholders to back the deal, whose terms it considered to be fair and reasonable.[28] The transaction was approved by the court in September 2021.[29]

Significant investments

Significant investments include:

Former operations

Laing Construction

John Laing’s former construction division, now absorbed into Laing O'Rourke, undertook a number of landmark projects including:

Laing Rail

The subsidiary Laing Rail owned and operated Chiltern Railways and was joint operator of London Overground (with MTR Corporation) and Wrexham & Shropshire (with Renaissance Trains). In 2008 Laing Rail was sold to Deutsche Bahn.[20]

Musical reference

Along with Sir Robert McAlpine and George Wimpey, Laing is mentioned in the opening preamble to the 1960 Dominic Behan satirical Irish ballard McAlpine's Fusiliers.[67]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Preliminary Results 2020" (PDF). John Laing Group. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  2. ↑ Ritchie, p. 15
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Cumbrian roots for flotation firm". Cumberland Echo. 19 January 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  4. ↑ Hartcup, p. 94
  5. ↑ Ritchie, p. 119
  6. ↑ Ritchie, p. 145
  7. ↑ "Birthdays". The Times. 18 January 2008. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  8. 1 2 "Cardiff stadium 'financial disaster'". BBC. 9 September 1999. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  9. ↑ "Green light for Laing rail stake". The Independent. 10 March 1999. Archived from the original on 2022-06-13. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  10. ↑ "Forrester steps in to give Laing a shake-up". The Telegraph. 15 December 2001.
  11. 1 2 Rogers, Dave (5 January 2024). "Sir Martin Laing dies aged 81". Building. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  12. ↑ "Laing axes jobs after stadium loss". BBC News. 27 October 1999. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  13. ↑ "Laing shares halve in value". BBC News. 21 September 2001. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  14. ↑ "Laing focuses on PFI as losses cut to £18.6m". The Scotsman. 18 March 2003. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  15. ↑ "Kier snaps up Laing Property". Property Week. 15 April 2002. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  16. ↑ "Wimpey moves in on Laing Homes". The Guardian. 17 October 2002.
  17. ↑ "Northern Venture backs John Laing MBO". Financial News. 28 September 2003. Archived from the original on 29 March 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  18. ↑ "Henderson beats Allianz to John Laing". The Guardian. 16 November 2006. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  19. ↑ "Chiltern Railways auction attracts strong interest". Reuters. 17 September 2007. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  20. 1 2 "Deutsche Bahn buys Laing Rail". 21 January 2008. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  21. 1 2 3 "New train fleet 'to boost jobs'". BBC News. 12 February 2009. Retrieved 12 February 2009.
  22. ↑ "John Laing to launch £270m infrastructure fund". Building. 14 October 2010. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  23. ↑ "Carillion buys John Laing's FM business". Building. 21 October 2013. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  24. ↑ "Olivier Brousse: Using his 'Coca-Cola secret recipe' to solve infrastructure problems". Telegraph.co.uk. 30 August 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  25. ↑ "John Laing backed infrastructure fund targets £174m launch". MRW. 11 February 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  26. ↑ "John Laing building group to list on stock market". BBC. 19 January 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  27. 1 2 "Fund consortium to buy John Laing Infrastructure for $1.8 billion". Reuters. 2018-08-03. Retrieved 2019-08-01.
  28. ↑ "KKR to Buy Infrastructure Group John Laing for $2.8 Billion". Bloomberg. 19 May 2021. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  29. ↑ "Court sanctions KKR's takeover of John Laing Group". 21 September 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  30. ↑ John Laing sells Intercity Express Programme stake Railway Gazette International 19 March 2018
  31. ↑ "Greater Manchester Waste PFI deal completed with Treasury cash". New Civil Engineer. 9 April 2009. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  32. ↑ "John Laing plc enters Australian PPP market". IPFA. 16 December 2010. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  33. ↑ "A1 Gdañsk to Toruñ motorway, Poland". roadtraffic technology. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  34. ↑ "Balfour Beatty to proceed on Denver's Eagle P3 commuter rail project". NCE. 16 August 2010. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  35. ↑ Ritchie, p. 26
  36. ↑ Ritchie, p. 57
  37. ↑ Ritchie, p. 85
  38. ↑ Ritchie, p. 78
  39. ↑ Ritchie, p. 112
  40. ↑ Ritchie, p. 126
  41. 1 2 Ritchie, p. 129
  42. ↑ "M1 London - Yorkshire Motorway, M10 and M45". Motorway archive. Archived from the original on 4 November 2002. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  43. ↑ "Coventry Cathedral (1962)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  44. ↑ Ritchie, p. 139
  45. ↑ Richardson, Michael (2009). Durham City Through Time. Amberley Publishing. ISBN 978-1848685192.
  46. ↑ Ritchie, p. 140
  47. ↑ "Carlisle Civic Centre". Skyscrapernews. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  48. ↑ Historic Environment Scotland. "Almada Street, Lanark County Buildings (Category A Listed Building) (LB34472)". Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  49. ↑ Ritchie, p. 141
  50. ↑ "Apostle Room Refurbishment". Clifton Cathedral. Archived from the original on February 10, 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  51. ↑ Ritchie, p. 147
  52. ↑ Ritchie, p. 155
  53. ↑ Ross, Peter (1 December 1978). "Freeman Hospital, Newcastle-upon-Tyne" (PDF). Arup Journal. p. 21. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
  54. ↑ Ritchie, p. 166
  55. ↑ "About the Falklands". Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
  56. ↑ Ritchie, p. 174
  57. ↑ "An exterior view of the recently completed Newcastle Law Courts from north-west on Broad Chare". Historic England. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  58. ↑ Ritchie, p. 173
  59. ↑ "Teesside Law Courts". Napper Architects. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  60. ↑ "Bradford Law Courts". Napper Architects. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  61. ↑ "Sizewell B Nuclear Reactor". Engineering Timelines. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  62. ↑ "The Law Courts". Sheffielder.net. 3 August 2021. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
  63. ↑ "Second Severn Crossing". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 19 April 1990. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  64. ↑ Ritchie, p. 180
  65. ↑ Ritchie, p. 188
  66. ↑ "Huge windfall for hospital's PFI investors as staff face job cuts". The Guardian. 3 May 2006. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  67. ↑ "McAlpines Fusiliers". Let's Sing It. Retrieved 9 February 2015.

Sources

  • Hartcup, Guy (2011). Code Name Mulberry: The Planning Building and Operation of the Normandy Harbours. Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 978-1848845589.
  • Ritchie, Berry (1997). The Good Builder: The John Laing Story. James & James.
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