John Laing completes purchase of US highway service area provider

John Laing Infrastructure Fund (JLIF) said it has completed the acquisition in Project Service LLC, the provider of 23 motorway service plazas in the US State of Connecticut, adding that it had hedged half the purchase price ahead of the UK vote to leave the European Union.

JLIF bought the plazas from Carlyle Infrastructure Service Plazas, Subway Restaurants parent company Doctor's Associates and Subcon, a major Subway franchisee and developer.

JLIF financed the US dollar consideration of the acquisition with a drawdown under its revolving credit facility of £76.6m.

“In mid-June 2016, with the UK referendum on EU membership pending, an expected completion date of the end of June and the consideration fixed in US dollars, JLIF sought to hedge the risk of a 'leave vote' and acquired just over half the US dollar consideration. This meant that any movement between sterling and US dollar was hedged against the remaining half of the consideration,” JLIF said.

Project Service operates and maintains the service areas along Interstate 95, Interstate 395 and Route 15, under a 35-year exclusive concession signed in 2009 with the State of Connecticut acting through the Connecticut Department of Transport.