Investment group acquires Chiltern Railways (Contributed)
JOHN Laing, the parent company of train operator Chiltern Railways, has been delisted from the London Stock Exchange after being acquired by Henderson Infrastructure Holdco, a subsidiary set up by Henderson Global Investors for the purpose of acquiring Laing.
The delisting on 27 December 2006 ends several months of competing bids for Laing from Henderson and German insurance group Allianz. On 19 September, the Boards of Henderson Infrastructure Holdco and Laing announced that they had reached agreement on an offer valuing the main Laing shares at 355p. Financial group Allianz then entered the bidding on 27 October, by improving on the Henderson offer with a 385p bid. Henderson came back on 10 November with a higher offer, worth 405p a share. Allianz dropped out of the running on 16 November, leaving the field clear for Henderson.
Laing’s main business is private finance initiative construction projects, but it also holds the Chiltern Railways franchise. The company was part of the public private partnership which constructed the Second Severn River Crossing and has made a name for itself by organising private finance for railway enhancement schemes, including the construction of Warwick Parkway and the recently completed multi-million pound project Evergreen upgrade of the Chiltern Railways network.
The transfer of control triggered the standard clause in the Chiltern Railways franchise contract which allows the Department for Transport to intervene if it is unhappy about a company which comes to own a rail franchise by means of a buy-out. The DfT said that it gave approval to the deal on 13 December. Approval can be granted in advance of a purchase contract affecting a franchise owner being signed, but when approval has been given the contract concerned must be completed within six months.
Nicholas A. Newman
NUJ Freelance Journalist
Editor: Oxfordprospect.co.uk & Headington Forum
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