John Laing opens John Laing Ireland as business continues European PPP growth

John Laing Group ("John Laing"), a leading international investor and active manager of core infrastructure assets, today announces a new presence in Ireland with the opening of John Laing (Ireland) Ltd. The new entity, located in Dublin, will support John Laing’s growth in its existing portfolio and support future opportunities.  

John Laing has significantly increased its footprint in Ireland in the last twelve months, completing the landmark acquisition of a portfolio of assets formerly owned by the Irish Infrastructure Fund.

Initially, expert infrastructure investment professionals will work under the John Laing Irish subsidiary, headed by John Laing Ireland Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Valley Healthcare, Brian Gilroy.

Andrew Truscott, Chief Executive of John Laing, said: “This is an important next step for us as we bring on the ground investment expertise to support our ambitions in Ireland. John Laing has an outstanding track record of delivering and managing long-term projects in partnership with the public sector and key stakeholders. These are projects that successfully deliver on the ambitions of governments and addresses the needs of communities.”

“Key to this is that we are a long-term investor and take a hands-on, active management approach, bringing highly experienced local teams together to deliver. This is best for our projects, best for our clients, and best for our partners.”

Brian Gilroy, MD of John Laing Ireland and CEO of Valley Healthcare, said: “John Laing is one of the few investors with real depth of experience in delivering and managing infrastructure capital projects of significant scope and complexity with private and public sector partners. I look forward to continuing to drive core infrastructure development across Ireland as part of John Laing and continuing the success of Valley in supporting the Irish government’s healthcare estate, through the efficient roll out of NZEB (near zero energy buildings) primary care centres throughout the country.”

John Laing is continuing its PPP growth across Europe, further diversifying a portfolio of long-term PPP and core infrastructure assets. John Laing’s current Irish portfolio consists of:

• Valley Healthcare, Ireland’s largest primary care centre (PCC) operator and developer, with 30 PCCs under operation across Ireland and a well-advanced active development pipeline consisting of assets in various stages of development. PCCs are modern, energy efficient, purpose-built buildings that provide a single location for primary care services delivering local, accessible health and social services.
• Towercom, Ireland’s leading independent telecommunications tower company, with a nationwide portfolio of 410 towers. Towercom has a well-diversified customer base of major mobile network operators committed under long-term inflation-linked contracts.
• The Convention Centre Dublin (The CCD), an iconic, purpose-built, 8,000-person capacity events venue, which has hosted over 2,200 events, welcomed more than 1.1 million national and international delegates, and won over 60 industry awards since opening in 2010. It is a 25-year availability-based public private partnership with the Irish Government’s Office of Public Works (OPW).

Brian Gilroy has held Director roles for over 25 years in the public and private sector in both estates and utilities functions. Since 2017, he has worked exclusively as Head of Investment at Valley Healthcare.

John Laing is developing the business in Ireland and is looking to make further long-term infrastructure investments.

*YTD December 2023