U.K.-based international contractor Balfour Beatty plc. is awaiting a formal $1.6 billion cash offer for all of its public-private-partnership projects from John Laing Infrastructure Fund.

The London-based fund announced on Dec. 1 that it would finance the acquisition by raising new equity from its investors.

Balfour Beatty’s PPP portfolio of some 60 projects represents a key pillar of the group’s business built up over many years.

However, company leadership says it is open “to value creation opportunities across the group while it concentrates on the restoration of value to its shareholders."

Balfour Beatty is reviewing its operations following a series of profits warnings on its U.K. business, which led to the departure last May of CEO Andrew MacNaughton.

Moving into the CEO role early next year is Leo Quinn, CEO of U.K.-based QinetiQ plc., an engineering support company serving various business sectors.

Of the target PPP projects, around 40% are in the U.S. and mainly in the military housing sector. The rest of the projects are spread across various sectors in the U.K., including 13 highways.

John Laing Infrastructure Fund last month valued its own existing project portfolio at nearly $1.3 billion.

The infrastructure developer/operator John Laing Group created the fund four years ago through a $425 million initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange.

The fund, one of Europe's largest, was vested with 19 projects, which the Laing group continues to manage.