John Laing Group

John Laing Group plc

Company type	Private
Industry	Infrastructure
Founded	1848; 176 years ago (1848)
Headquarters	London, England, UK
Key people	Will Samuel (Chairman) Olivier Brousse, (CEO)
Revenue	£25 million (2020)[1]
Operating income	£−53 million (2020)[1]
Net income	£−66 million (2020)[1]
Owner	KKR
Website	www.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 prior to its acquisition of the company by the American private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR).

The company has its origins in 1848, at which point James Laing and his wife Ann Graham embarked on a home construction venture in Cumberland before relocating to Carlisle. 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 at Mill Hill in north-west London two years later. Its activities during and after the Second World War, particularly in the reconstruction efforts, increased the company's prominence. In January 1953, John Laing & Sons (Holdings) Ltd was listed on the London Stock Exchange, at which point the business had roughly 10,000 employees. William Kirby Laing and John 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 the Middle East, Continental Europe, and the United 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 to O'Rourke for £1 in 2001 while the property developments divisions were sold to Kier Group and its house building arm was also divested to George 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 of Henderson Group. Just over a year later, the Laing Rail division, which at the time operated Chiltern Railways and London Overground (with MTR Corporation), and a stakeholder in the open-access railway operator Wrexham & Shropshire, was purchased by German rail operator Deutsche Bahn. In June 2008, John Laing formed a consortium with Hitachi and Barclays Private Equity called Agility Trains that designed, manufactured, and maintained long-distance high speed trains under the Intercity Express Programme. During October 2013, the company sold its facilities management business to Carillion. The John 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 under a deal valued at about £2 billion ($2.84 billion).