European Event-Driven Analyst

Jesus Rodriguez Aguilar

Jesús is an Insight Provider (Event-driven) on the Smartkarma network, where he looks across sectors at opportunities arising from securities mispricing (both credit and equity), share classes, bid announcements, prospective bids, and special situations. He has served as Economic and Business Advisor at the Spanish Congress in Madrid. Prior to that, he has worked in the City of London: as a Credit Analyst at Bloomberg; Event-driven associate at former boutique European Research; and doubled as Special Situations and Equity-linked VP (convertible bonds) at Merrill Lynch. Jesús has an MBA from the London Business School, a BA (Hons.) degree in Economics from the Complutense University in Madrid, and a BA (Hons.) in Law from U.N.E.D., also in Madrid.

Event-Driven

New York-based KKR &amp; Co. unit London-based Aqueduct Bidco Limited has agreed to acquire London-based <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/john-laing-group-plc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:22016:1" rel="noopener">John Laing (JLG LN)</a> for 403p in cash, a 27% premium to the closing price on 5 May, the day before it announced that it was in discussions with KKR.
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For an implied equity value of £1,990.3 mn and an implied EV of £2,126.3 mn.
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This represents 1.6x Fwd P/BV.
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John Laing Group plc invests in greenfield infrastructure and then actively manages its investments in projects. KKR has agreed to partner with Equitix, an infrastructure investor, to jointly own John Laing's existing portfolio. Once the acquisition is completed, Equitix will acquire 50% of John Laing's assets though they will still be managed by the original team.
John Laing has an attractive, established portfolio of infrastructure assets and a platform with significant expertise and growth potential. Under KKR's ownership, John Laing could access KKR's available funding, in which could be a transformational deal.  KKR is planning to hold on to John Laing.
John Laing is another FTSE 250 constituent to receive a bid since the beginning of 2021.
Fair value is 313.6p vs a NAV of 320p at YE 2020, before dividends paid, and vs an offer price of 403p. On this basis, the offer price is fair, in my view.
Gross spread is 0.25%, c. 1.5% annualised, not terribly exciting, in my view, but considering the deal is highly likely to close, I would be long JLG LN and would take advantage of any bump to build a position.
As economies pull out of the Covid-19 crisis, construction and engineering M&amp;A industry is reviving, driven mainly by private equity buyouts in the infrastructure segment.

New York-based KKR &amp; Co. unit London-based Aqueduct Bidco Limited has agreed to acquire London-based John Laing (JLG LN) for 403p in cash, a 27% premium to the closing price on 5 May, the day before it announced that it was in discussions with KKR.


For an implied equity value of £1,990.3 mn and an implied EV of £2,126.3 mn.


This represents 1.6x Fwd P/BV.


John Laing Group plc invests in greenfield infrastructure and then actively manages its investments in projects. KKR has agreed to partner with Equitix, an infrastructure investor, to jointly own John Laing's existing portfolio. Once the acquisition is completed, Equitix will acquire 50% of John Laing's assets though they will still be managed by the original team.
John Laing has an attractive, established portfolio of infrastructure assets and a platform with significant expertise and growth potential. Under KKR's ownership, John Laing could access KKR's available funding, in which could be a transformational deal.  KKR is planning to hold on to John Laing.
John Laing is another FTSE 250 constituent to receive a bid since the beginning of 2021.
Fair value is 313.6p vs a NAV of 320p at YE 2020, before dividends paid, and vs an offer price of 403p. On this basis, the offer price is fair, in my view.
Gross spread is 0.25%, c. 1.5% annualised, not terribly exciting, in my view, but considering the deal is highly likely to close, I would be long JLG LN and would take advantage of any bump to build a position.
As economies pull out of the Covid-19 crisis, construction and engineering M&amp;A industry is reviving, driven mainly by private equity buyouts in the infrastructure segment.

John Laing

KKR/John Laing: Trading Tight to Terms