Basketball legend turned businessman Earvin "Magic" Johnson said he would step down from the Board of Square Inc., turning his attention to a billion-dollar infrastructure fund he launched.

The former Los Angeles Laker joined the board of the payments company last year. In a letter to Square's Chief Executive Jack Dorsey released Friday, Mr. Johnson said he launched the infrastructure fund, JLC Loop Capital Partners, to take advantage of new federal government infrastructure spending promised by Barack Obama.

"Initially I thought it would take some time to raise capital, however, my team and I were fortunate that the first investor we approached invested $1 billion," Mr. Johnson wrote. The fund raised over $1.3 billion in the first quarter of the year, Mr. Johnson said in the letter.

He said the fund will "require a significant and unwavering time commitment from me as I work to secure contracts around the country."

Mr. Johnson is chief executive of Magic Johnson Enterprises and part of a group that led the roughly $2 billion purchase of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team in 2012.

He also previously launched the Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund to target new development and urban revitalization.

Write to Austen Hufford at austen.hufford@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 13, 2016 10:15 ET (14:15 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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