Ian Laing buys stake for about £5m following restructuring at Stanhope.

The board of property developer Stanhope is understood to have sold a 25% stake in the company to property entrepreneur Ian Laing.

The deal has been struck on the back of a restructuring at Stanhope, whereby chief executive David Camp and his financial backers bought out the 44% stake previously held by the company's founding director Sir Stuart Lipton.

Despite offloading 25% of Stanhope, Camp will retain more than half of the company, and Lipton remains as an adviser.

It is thought that Laing has paid around £5m for the stake and Laing is also expected to pump cash into the business to allow Stanhope to take bigger equity stakes in developments.

Laing is also expected to become a non-executive director at Stanhope.