John Laing Group is a British investor, developer and operator of privately financed, public sector infrastructure projects such as roads, railways, hospitals and schools through public-private partnership (PPP) and private finance initiative (PFI) arrangements. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index prior to its acquisition by KKR.
The company has its origins in 1848, when James Laing and his wife Ann Graham embarked on a home construction venture in Cumberland before relocating to Carlisle. James' son, John Laing, took over the company and pursued larger contracts in the region. By 1920, John William Laing had taken charge and continued to expand the business; it became a limited company in 1920 and established its headquarters at Mill Hill, London two years later. Its activities during and after World War II, particularly in the reconstruction efforts, increased the company's prominence. In January 1953, John Laing & Sons was listed on the London Stock Exchange, at which point the business had roughly 10,000 employees. William Kirby Laing and John Maurice Laing, who had joined the company in 1950, jointly took over in 1957.
