Consortium makes £1.4bn bid for John Laing Infrastructure Fund

A CONSORTIUM of fund managers has swooped for John Laing Infrastructure Fund (JLIF), formally submitting their £1.4bn takeover offer for the business, despite recent shareholder opposition to the deal.

Dalmore Capital and Equitix Investment Management are offering 142.5p per share for JLIF, a premium of around 21pc to the company’s closing price on the Friday before the takeover talks were first mooted. The formal bid also includes the payment of a dividend of up to 3.57p per share to JLIF investors.

Dalmore and Equitix said they were “well placed to support the JLIF portfolio during its investment cycle and mitigate the effect of declining concession lengths”.

Directors of the infrastructure fund, which holds stakes in assets including the headquarters of the Ministry of Defence and Metro stations in Barcelona, plan to back the offer, which will need approval from 75pc of investors to go ahead. Their recommendation comes after a series of blows for JLIF since September, including John Mcdonnell’s pledge to nationalise private finance initiative contracts should Labour come to power, and Carillion’s collapse, prompting unease about the sector.

David Maclellan, JLIF chairman, said the offer secures “early delivery of our long-term value potential”.

However, the bid is likely to face opposition, given a number of investors, holding around a 10pc stake, had last month told the board the offer was too low. It had been thought the consortium may have sweetened the terms of the deal, prior to officially lodging the bid, but the offer on Friday was in line with the earlier proposition.

Baillie Gifford, one of JLIF’S largest investors, is understood to be among those sceptical about the benefits of the deal, having been surprised at the value of it. News of the opposition was first reported by Sky News.