HICL Infrastructure acquires stake in Scottish prison project

HICL Infrastructure Company has acquired a 33.3 per cent equity and loan note interest in a Scottish prison development for 10.3m pounds.

The group purchased the HMP Addiewell Prison private finance initiative (PFI) project from Royal Bank Project Investments.

The £74m PFI project was procured by the Scottish Prison Service to design, build, finance and operate a new maximum security prison at Addiewell, West Lothian, Scotland.

Construction was undertaken by Interserve Project Services, a subsidiary of Interserve.

Sodexo's arm Sodexo Justice Services is looking after operational services, including provision of custodial staff and lifecycle obligations.

HICL paid a consideration in line with current valuations of similar UK PFI projects in the group's portfolio. The acquisition brings its total number of infrastructure investments up to 83.

"We are delighted to reach agreement with the vendor and the Scottish Prison Service to acquire the Interest in the project, which we have been working on for a year," said HICL's Investment Adviser James O'Halloran.

"Our due diligence has confirmed the high quality of the facilities and the excellent relationships that exist between the public and private sectors which have contributed to the strong operational performance."

Shares fell 0.08% to 130.70p at 11:46 Wednesday.

RD