Monday, October 31, 2005

ExcellCare Ltd, the joint venture company established by Equion Ltd (part of John Laing plc) and Bank of Scotland to participate in the Government’s Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) initiative, has announced two senior appointments.

New Chief Executive John Cassidy will join on 1 November to spearhead the company’s growth plans in the primary and social healthcare market. John joins from Aramark, where he was latterly Managing Director of their healthcare and defence business.  He has extensive experience in public sector projects and has been involved in the Private Finance Initiative since its inception in the early 1990s. John’s previous roles include heading up the FM business at Jarvis and Managing Director of Government Services at Sodehxo.

John will be joined on 1 November by Sean Latus, who will become a Director at ExcellCare. Sean, who currently works with Laing Roads, will initially be charged with overseeing financial close on existing LIFT schemes and developing new opportunities for LIFT companies.

“ExcellCare is already at the forefront of meeting new challenges arising out of LIFT schemes, commented ExcellCare Director Ian Wells. “With the appointments of John and Sean, ExcellCare will be in excellent shape to meet future challenges, achieve real growth and continue to provide first class primary health and social care facilities through LIFT schemes.”

ENDS

For further information contact:

Madano Partnership
Anne Sampson/Matthew Moth - 020 7593 4000

John Laing plc

Christine Jones - 020 7901 3200

Notes to Editors

• ExcellCare is a joint venture company established by Equion Ltd (part of John Laing plc) and Bank of Scotland to participate in the Government’s Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) initiative.
• ExcellCare’s portfolio includes 24 schemes of which six are operational, with a further 30 schemes at various stages of development.
• Equion is a specialist provider of facilities in the PFI and PPP markets with a long term perspective and approach.
• The company manages and delivers projects from planning and funding through to design, construction and operation. It is actively involved in the management of a wide range of health, police, education, defence and special purpose government facilities
• Bank of Scotland’s Corporate Infrastructure Finance team is a leading funder of Public Private Partnership projects. 
• It has funded more than 100 PPP projects and has provided equity investment as part of an integrated funding package to more than 40 projects, equating to £10 billion of project value across the UK and Europe.  It has participated in the funding of more than 8,000 acute hospital bed spaces across the UK and is a major investor in the improvement of Britain’s hospitals and health centres, with several more projects currently at preferred bidder stage