JLIF to raise new money

John Laing Infrastructure Fund (JLIF), the international public-private partnership (PPP) investment firm listed on London’s FTSE 250 index, has announced a new fundraising in the coming months.

JLIF said that “details on the quantum of the offering will be published in due course”, but it expected to publish a prospectus next month with new ordinary shares being issued and admitted to trading in October.

Last week, the firm said it had completed the £123 million (€143 million; $192 million) acquisition of 11 assets from Investors in the Community – the largest investment made by JLIF since it launched in 2010. The firm also recently agreed to acquire an additional 5 percent of the LUL Connect (Citylink) project.

JLIF said it has approximately £123 million drawn on its existing bank facility and is seeking to refinance this by way of the proposed issue.

Paul Lester, JLIF’s chairman, said that a “robust and buoyant secondary market offers a strong pipeline and we are confident that there remains sufficient asset flow to continue to meet JLIF’s growth targets”.

The fundraising announcement was made at the same time as JLIF’s six-monthly results to the end of June 2013 were unveiled. The firm’s portfolio value increased 4.9 percent to £571.9 million, while net asset value (NAV) grew 1.4 percent to £550.0 million. NAV per share (post dividend) was up 1.0 percent to 106.8 pence.

During the reporting period, the firm added stakes in the E18 road in Finland and a 30 percent stake in Peterborough Hospital in England. It also refinanced a £150 million revolving credit facility.

JLIF said it was confident that new investment opportunities would arise in the near future from the John Laing pipeline (JLIF has a right of first offer to projects being developed by John Laing), the wider market and further stakes in existing investments.