Anybody trading in these shares? I just bought some @ 204.72

Hi GF ,i 'm in here this week ,going well at the moment .

Yep Jimmy giving it a bit more of a push.

BBY Balfour Beatty on verge of breaking into a gap and proceeding up to 220p in quick order. Rec stock and TO Target.

Surely indicators approaching overbought at the moment?

Thats true but Harry look at the volume.

Now if the volume had fallen away badly I would be with you, but it hasnt say compared to the summer period.

Theres a lot of charts around like this at the moment all looking overbought but still being very resilient and making daily gains.

Plus going up to Christmas volumes fall off anyway and SPs increase.

Could always check it out using momentum and ADX.

Give me 10 mins and I will do.

Here we are, just look at the green signal line turning up on ADX, and dont forget Harry ADX is a lagging indicator. Momentum is pretty positive aswel.

Harry - plenty of gas left in that RSI :-)

JLIF Statement

JLIF STATEMENT REGARDING THE BALFOUR BEATTY PPP PORTFOLIO

Further to recent press speculation, John Laing Infrastructure Fund Ltd ("JLIF") confirms that today it is making a non-binding proposal, subject to due diligence, to the Board of Balfour Beatty plc for its PPP Portfolio (the "Portfolio") for approximately GBP1bn in cash.

Since its IPO in 2010, JLIF has proven itself as a leading London-listed infrastructure fund investing in low risk, operational infrastructure assets and therefore believes it would be an ideal owner of the Portfolio.

Following due diligence and in the event agreement is reached to purchase the Portfolio, JLIF would seek to finance the acquisition largely via an equity capital raise of ordinary shares, as with its previous acquisitions.

A further announcement will be made when appropriate.

UPDATE 1 – John Laing Fund makes 1 bln stg offer for Balfour assets
01 Dec 2014 - 07:52

(Adds background, Kier Group in talks with Mouchel)

LONDON, Dec 1 (Reuters) – John Laing Infrastructure Fund on Monday offered to buy Balfour Beatty's portfolio of public-private partnership assets, operating in sectors like education and health, for 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) in cash.

JLIF said it would fund the deal by issuing shares.

The group is one of Europe's largest listed infrastructure funds which partners with public sector groups across the world to deliver local and national infrastructure projects.

John Laing's swoop for the assets comes after a troubled couple of years for Balfour Beatty, during which it has issued a string of profit warnings and fended off takeover approaches from rival Carillion .

The infrastructure group has appointed turnaround specialist Leo Quinn from defence firm Qinetiq as its new chief executive, tasked with leading a strategic review of the group when he joins on Jan. 1. ...

ThanksGF and Skinny. Without you I'd be in the dark given Moneyman hasn't given a news flag on bby :-(

John Laing fund prepares £1bn bid for Balfour assets
John Laing Infrastructure Fund wants to buy the private public partnership portfolio of struggling construction firm Balfour Beatty.

by Gavin Lumsden on Dec 01, 2014 at 08:34

John Laing Infrastructure Fund (JLIF +
) is making a £1 billion bid for the private public partnership portfolio of struggling construction firm Balfour Beatty.

Following weekend reports the investment arm of John Laing, a rival construction firm, confirmed this morning that subject to due diligence it was making a non-binding proposal to buy the PPP assets in cash.

Balfour Beatty (BALF +
) shares jumped 9p, or 5%, to 192p but after a string of profits warnings have lost about a third of their value this year. After resisting a takeover bid by Carillion in the summer it replaced all its senior management.

JLIF shed 3p to 120.5p.

According to reports the PPP portfolio has previously been valued at £1.1 billion and includes contracts to run student and military accommodation, roads and hospitals. This is a similar mix of assets JLIF already runs. The Guernsey-based investment company was spun off and separately listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2010,

As with previous acquisitions, JLIF said it would finance the purchase by issuing shares to investors.

Launched four years ago, JLIF is managed by David Marshall and Andrew Charlesworth. At 5.2% it is the highest yielding of four social infrastructure investment companies. It has generated a 13.5% total return for shareholders over three years.

No probs kernow.

BRIEF – Balfour Beatty to review John Laing Fund's proposal once received

01 Dec 2014 - 12:02

Dec 1 (Reuters) – Balfour Beatty Plc

Response to jlif announcement
Notes announcement by john laing infrastructure fund ltd ("jlif") that it intends to make a non-binding proposal for balfour beatty's ppp portfolio
Will review proposal once received from jlif. A further announcement will be made in due course, as appropriate
Source text for Eikon: ... Further company coverage: BALF.L

Broker talk on the proposed deal yesterday.......

John Laing Infrastructure Fund has made a £1bn offer for Balfour’s portfolio of public private partnership assets, which operate in education, health and other sectors. JLIF has fallen 2.3% to 120.4p after it said it would issue shares to fund the transaction.

But analysts suggested the offer price was on the low side and could attract rival bidders. Meanwhile Carillion, which was rebuffed in an offer for the whole of Balfour Beatty, could return in February.

Liberum said:

We do not think that this is a very generous offer. Balfours’ own conservative directors value was £1,051m at the interims, although there will have been some changes since then including the closure of the Greater Gabbard OFTO |(£15m of equity), the unwinding of the discount and disposals (we assume gains of £33m in the second half or proceeds of £66m assuming two time book). In our mind, even if all of the assets were sold for this low number, the PPP business would still have a material value, note the £170m of equity expected to be invested over the next two years and the likelihood of investments beyond that.

While the Laing offer looks low, it does highlight the significant value of the business. Balfour Beatty’s market cap is £1.3bn; there is at least £1.0bn of PPP assets, we estimate £0.3bn of residual PPP value, we estimate £490m of value on Support Services and £70m of pro forma average cash (£220m of year end cash). This indicates a negative value of £0.6bn for the rest of the business, which is too low, given that most of Construction is performing satisfactorily and the losses can be discontinued (albeit with significant write-offs in January).

Oriel issued a downbeat note of JLIF on the news:

Whilst at this stage there is a lack of information on the proposal, we do think it is likely that in addition to JLIF there are likely to be a number of parties interested in these PFI assets. A large queue of potential buyers could well form, with the danger being that the ‘winning bidder’ is likely to end-up paying a relatively high price for the assets. A £1bn equity issue would double JLIF’s size from its current market cap of £1bn and some investors are likely to welcome the increased stockmarket liquidity associated with an enlarged JLIF. The market currently seems to have an insatiable appetite for listed infrastructure, with this demonstrated by the mid-teen premia that many of the funds are currently trading on. However, we do think there is likely to be some short-term indigestion if the market has to absorb £1bn of equity from JLIF. We re-iterate our reduce recommendation with a fair value of 113p and we think it likely that the whole listed infrastructure fund sector may see some price weakness in the short-term given the size of this potential equity issuance.

Meanwhile Canaccord Genuity said:

It initially looked unclear as to whether or not this included the US portfolio or just the UK - as this makes a huge difference. The sensitivities are that if it is just UK, we value the UK current assets at £877m plus a value for the UK pipeline of £55m, which makes £932m; so if it is just UK it is a fair price and could be looked at. If it includes the US, which having spoken to Laing’s PR company Finsbury it appears to do, it is a poor price and should be dismissed in our view, as we value the combined UK/US business at £1.3bn in our sum of the parts.

I think we should hold out for more.

"Meanwhile Carillion, which was rebuffed in an offer for the whole of Balfour Beatty, could return in February".

I hold JLIF and BBY (SB), so interesting times.

The Carillion bid rejection was followed by a profit warning from BBY. I imagine that CLLN are breathing a sigh of relief, also not forgetting that CLLN wanted the US part of the business, which has now gone. I think CLLN have moved on.

StockMarketWire.com
Balfour Beatty has rejected the non-binding proposal from John Laing Infrastructure Fund ("JLIF") to acquire its entire PPP portfolio for approximately £1bn.

The Board has concluded that the proposal falls significantly short of its own view of the value of the portfolio.

The directors' valuation of the PPP portfolio stood at £1.05bn, as at 28 June 2014. However, the Group's targeted approach to selling individual assets as each investment matures, combined with the current and expected future strength of the market, has the Board to conclude that the realisable value of the PPP portfolio continues to be substantially in excess of the current directors' valuation.

This has been recently evidenced by the disposal of an investment at a 28% premium to the half-year valuation.

As a result, the Board intends to publish an updated directors' valuation in January. This valuation will take into account recent contract wins, further investments and disposals in the period since June, and a further review of underlying project valuations.

Separately, it will also seek to provide an indicative value range for the current investments pipeline. In combination, these will set out the Board's view of a market value for the existing PPP portfolio and the pipeline.

StockMarketWire.com
Balfour Beatty, the international infrastructure group, has reached financial close and completed the acquisition of the £164m Thanet offshore transmission project (OFTO) in the UK.

Balfour Beatty will invest over £20m of equity. The Thanet OFTO, previously operated by Vattenfall, is the high-voltage electricity transmission system connecting the 300MW Thanet Wind Farm, off the coast of Kent, to the onshore transmission grid, generating enough electricity for around 200,000 homes each year.

The assets include one offshore and one onshore substation and over 50 kilometres of subsea cables.

Balfour Beatty's Services division is responsible for the assets' operations and maintenance under a licence granted by Ofgem with a 20 year revenue stream. To date, Balfour Beatty has achieved financial close on two OFTO projects. In November 2013, Balfour Beatty achieved financial close on the £317 million Greater Gabbard OFTO in Suffolk, which has since delivered average availability close to 100%. The company also remains preferred bidder on the Gwynt y Môr OFTO in North Wales, which is expected to close in Q1 2015.

Contract Win

Balfour Beatty, the international infrastructure company, today announces it has been appointed as the sole contractor to a new UK-wide civil engineering and infrastructure framework for public works. The framework is valued at up to £1.5 billion, runs until February 2019 and individual projects are expected to be valued at up to £40 million.

The national framework is operated by Scape Group - the public sector-owned built environment specialist - and is open to all public sector bodies in the UK. It is the first to provide dedicated support to such a diverse range of projects, with Balfour Beatty providing expertise and resources for civil engineering and infrastructure projects ranging from road repairs, new bridges and coastal defence works to light rail schemes and major road projects.

The framework encourages collaborative working and early contractor involvement so that project design and delivery can be influenced, progressing rapidly to the construction stage, stimulating local jobs and spend and increasing value for the customer.