Thursday, October 27, 2005

John Laing plc (John Laing) has today announced that a consortium consisting of Laing Roads, Skanska Infrastructure Development AB from Sweden and Lemminkäinen Corporation from Finland has reached financial close on the €299m E18 Muurla–Lohja Motorway Project. John Laing will invest approximately £8m in the concession company, representing a 41% interest.

This project includes detailed road design, construction and maintenance as well as
financing. The project includes the construction of 51km of new motorway, seven hard-rock tunnels (with an aggregate length of 5km), eight interchanges and 76 bridges (the longest of which is 360m). The length of the agreement period is 21 years from the date the road is opened to traffic. This is the first project of a broad series introduced by the Ministerial Working Group in Finland last year.

Andy Friend, Chief Executive of John Laing plc said:

“We are delighted to be reaching financial close on our second major project in Finland, having been appointed preferred bidder 4 months ago in June of this year. We are now an investor in three of the four PPP roads that have been awarded so far in the Nordic region. Once again, these markets have set the standard for the rest of Europe in terms of their ability to deliver competitively bid PPP schemes in very efficient timescales. This is further evidence that deployment of the business model for PPP Investment in public infrastructure is now gathering pace in Europe.”

For further information, please contact:

John Laing plc
Andy Friend / Derek Potts
Tel: 020 7901 3200

Finsbury Group
Faeth Birch / Robin Walker
Tel: 020 7251 3801
 

Notes to Editors

About John Laing plc

John Laing plc is the UK’s listed market leader in PPP/ PFI infrastructure projects.  It currently invests in 47 PPP/ PFI projects in the rail, roads and accommodation sectors.

Details of bid

The concession agreement is between Finnra, the Finnish Roads Administration, and the consortium, called Tieyhtiö Ykköstie. The consortium consists of Skanska Infrastructure Development AB from Sweden, Laing Roads Ltd from the UK and Lemminkäinen Corporation from Finland.

The entire Muurla–Lohja section of the E18 is due to be opened in November 2008, advancing the tight schedule set up by Finnra by one year.

The project road is part of the European E18 route, a project prioritised by the EU. The Finnish section of the route follows the Southern coastline from Turku to Vaalimaa, passing through Helsinki. The Muura-Lohja section of the road completes the Turku-Helsinki part of the motorway.