FTSE 250 fund John Laing Infrastructure sold to two rivals in £1.5bn deal 

John Laing Infrastructure Fund last night backed an offer from Jura Acquisition

A top infrastructure fund has struck a sweetened deal to sell itself to two rivals for £1.5billion.

FTSE 250 firm John Laing Infrastructure Fund (JLIF) last night backed an offer from Jura Acquisition, a joint vehicle of Dalmore Capital and Equitix Investment Management.

Their offer values JLIF shares at 142.5p each but – following murmurs of an investor revolt over the price – also includes a dividend of 3.57p per share. It takes the total offer per share to 146.07p.

David MacLellan, chairman of JLIF, said: ‘The board has concluded the offer is in the best interests of shareholders and the company as a whole.’

In documents published last night, the parties said JLIF’s assets were a good match for the long-term investors Dalmore and Equitix represented. However, they said they would seek to sell some of JLIF non-UK assets as these did not fit with Dalmore’s investment rules.

The formal offer comes after Baillie Gifford, JLIF’s second-largest shareholder, was said to be among investors which had expressed concern about the 142.5p per share bid.

JLIF is an investor in £1.2billion of private and public finance schemes. Floated almost eight years ago, it was spun out of John Laing Group, the separately quoted private finance initiative developer.