Daily Mail to buy into Trillium PPP fund

The Transport for London and Daily Mail pension funds have taken stakes in the £1.1bn Trillium public-private-partnership fund, managed by Land Securities.

The property giant wholly owned the fund, which aims to make 100 infrastructure-project investments in the next five years, until December, when the first additional shareholders came on board. It wanted to reduce its stake to 10 to 15 per cent, but retain management of the fund's investment strategy.

There are now seven investors in the fund. The others are HBOS, Lloyds TSB, Bank of Ireland and Victorian Funds Management Corporation of Australia. About half of the £1.1bn is equity, which all seven parties hold; the remainder is debt, provided by Lloyds TSB and HBOS. An announcement confirming the completion of the fund-raising is expected this week.

As well as the fund, Trillium holds a number of property outsourcing contracts. Land Securities is looking either to demerge or sell Trillium for £1.5bn.

An information memorandum for bidders is being prepared and is expected to come out in two to three weeks.