Tag: Empark

Criteria to Make a Decision Regarding the Remaining 49% Stake in Saba on 24 May

23 May 2018 – Expansión 

Tomorrow (Thursday 24 May), the Board of Directors of Criteria, the investment arm of La Caixa, will make a decision regarding the future of Saba, the parking lot group of which it is a controlling shareholder, with a 51% stake. Criteria must decide whether to purchase the remaining 49% share capital currently in the hands of KKR, Torreal and ProA Capital or, by contrast, accept an offer for the purchase of 100% of the company chaired by Salvador Alemany.

According to sources close to the operation, Criteria’s position will be to emerge as the buyer, once the economic estimate of the asset has been made known, whose valuation ranges between €1.2 billion and €1.4 billion.

The investment by La Caixa’s industrial holding company will put an end to the period of uncertainty that the company has been experiencing since Torreal (20%), KKR (18.5%) and ProA (10.5%) agreed to sell their combined 49% stake in a coordinated way more than a year ago. Saba’s minority shareholders have forced this outcome. According to the shareholders’ agreements, the drag-along clause was activated in May, which means that any of the shareholders may require the sale of 100% of the company. KKR, ProA and Torreal notified La Caixa of their intention to find a buyer. According to sources consulted, Criteria has expressed its willingness to buy at the estimated prices. Several funds have also expressed their interest in Saba. As Expansión revealed in November 2017, Arcus was one of the first funds to propose an agreement. In the market, sources also point to Macquarie, which purchased Empark last year.

For Criteria, which has declined to comment, the investment in Saba would represent its first major buy-side move since it sold 10% of Gas Natural Fenosa to the fund GIP in 2016 for around €1.8 billion and following its exit this month from Abertis, after accepting the joint takeover bid presented by ACS and Atlantia. For its 18% stake in the highway group, Criteria has received more than €3 billion, which it will use to fund new investments.

The conversations have accelerated in recent weeks to the point that Saba had to postpone its General Shareholders’ Meeting. Originally, it had been convened for 9 May, but it has been postponed until 12 June pending an agreement between the shareholders.

Original story: Expansión (by C.M., M.P.L. and A.Z.)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Ardian Places Indigo Sale On Hold after Raising €700M in Debt

4 May 2018 – Expansión

Ardian and its partner Predica (Credit Agricole) have decided to put on hold the sale of their parking lot subsidiary Indigo, one of the giants in the European sector with significant interests in Spain. The shareholders, which have been looking at various options for their investment over the last year, have opted to re-leverage the company in the end, with a €700 million bond issue, which will be used to refinance some of the debt that expires in 2020, and also, to distribute an extraordinary dividend to shareholders.

With this move, the possible sale of the former VinciPark has been put on hold, after Ardian went off the idea of divestment in 2017 when it did not obtain satisfactory offers for the asset. According to sources close to the operation, Indigo’s shareholders were left with three options: put the “for sale” sign back up; re-leverage the company and distribute an extraordinary dividend to the shareholders; or encourage a merger agreement with other parking lot groups.

Until a few weeks ago, all three options were on the table. One of the possibilities involved exploring an alliance with the Spanish firm Saba. The parking lot group controlled by Criteria (La Caixa) is also undergoing a process of transformation after the decision was taken by its minority shareholders, which together hold a 49% stake, to exit the company. That round of contact did not prosper and Indigo decided to begin the procedure to launch a macro debt issue, which took place on 12 April.

Sources in the sector believe that a merger between Saba and Indigo would have business logic given the minimal overlap and their capacity to form a group with sufficient critical mass to explore a stock market listing. Trading on the stock market has always been the ultimate dream of Saba’s founding partners. By contrast, Ardian avoids investments in listed groups (…).

Indigo is, together with Qpark and Apcoa, the largest parking lot group in Europe. According to the latest available figures, the company recorded turnover of €897 million in 2017, with an EBITDA of €310 million. The company’s net financial debt amounts to €1.666 billion. Saba and Empark also feature in Europe’s Top 8 ranking of the largest parking lot groups, but their turnover figures are significantly lower than those of Indigo and QPark.

According to experts, another factor that would contribute to accelerating the corporate movements in the sector is the ownership structure. The giants in the sector are owned by investment funds and private equity firms with a relative dearth of long-term investors. QPark is controlled by KKR, whilst the German firm Apcoa is owned by Centerbridge. Ardian controls Indigo and Macquarie is the new owner of Empark. Saba is the only company with an industrial shareholder – Criteria – and a long-term interest (…).

Although not its largest market, Indigo conducts significant business in Spain. Revenues amounted to €41 million in 2017, with an EBITDA of almost €20 million. It is Indigo’s third largest market in Europe, after France and the United Kingdom. The outlook for Spain is positive. According to the consultancy firm DBK, revenues from the rental of parking spaces (…) in Spain and Portugal amounted to €1.145 billion in 2017, which represented an increase of 3.8% with respect to the previous year. In 2016, that figure grew by 4.5%.

Original story: Expansión (by C. Morán)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Torreal, KKR & ProA May Force La Caixa To Sell 100% Of Saba

10 November 2017 – Expansión

The European parking lot market is at boiling point. Following the sale of Empark earlier this year to the Australian fund Macquarie, now comes the turn of Saba, the other Spanish leader in the sector, controlled by Criteria (La Caixa). According to financial sources consulted, the firms KKR, Torreal and ProA, which together own 49% of the company, have resumed the plan to sell their shares. Unlike in previous processes, on this occasion, the conversations with investors revolve around the sale of 100% of the company, given that, by agreement between the shareholders, they may force La Caixa to sell its controlling 50.1% stake.

According to preliminary estimates, the valuation of the company could reach €1,150 million. Until last December, the company’s financial debt amounted to €545 million. Sources at Saba declined to comment on the news.

The parking lot group closed 2016 with turnover of €222 million, compared to €225 million in 2015, when its revenues still reflected income from its logistics parks. The company, a spin-off of Abertis, constituted in 2011, obtained an EBITDA of €103 million and earned €4 million from its ordinary activity in 2016 (€32 million with the gains from the sale of its logistics business to the Socimi Merlin).

Two hundred thousand parking spaces

The group manages 195,000 parking spaces across Spain, Chile, Portugal and Italy and employs 1,400 people. Its last major operation was the contract it won in 2014, with a bid amounting to €234 million, to manage the parking lots in Barcelona through a joint venture with the city’s Town Hall.

Potential buyers for Saba include the large investment funds that specialise in infrastructures. Sources in the market say that the investment firm Arcus, which manages a portfolio of assets worth €17,000 million, is looking at this opportunity. KKR, Saba’s third-largest shareholder, purchased the parking lots of the Dutch firm Q-Park earlier this year for almost €3,000 million. Meanwhile, Ardian and Predica also put the French market leader Indigo up for sale this year; that company has strong interests in Spain and is worth around €3,000 million.

There have been other smaller transactions in Spain, such as the agreement signed by Oak Hill to acquire Isolux’s best parking lots and the sale of Parkia to First State for €300 million.

Saba, which is chaired by Salvador Alemany, suffered a major setback this summer after losing the bid for Empark. The parking lot group, whose vocation since its constitution has been to make its debut on the stock market, had wanted to absorb Empark to acquire critical mass for its stock market debut. But its offer was lower than the one presented by the Australians, which, according to the market, bid around €900 million.

Following that setback, the minority shareholders have reactivated the sales plan. Specifically, the shareholders’ agreement lapses in November and the funds have a drag along clause to force the other shareholders to sell. The timeframe for looking for interested investors runs until May 2018 and if Criteria does not want to sell, then it has the right of first refusal to buy the shares that it does not control at the same price agreed with the investor (…).

Original story: Expansión (by C. Morán, I. Abril and M. Ponce de León)

Translation: Carmel Drake

CBRE: Real Estate Inv’t Will Exceed €13,000M In 2017

5 October 2017 – Expansión

Real estate investment in Spain is continuing to enjoy happy times, with on-going growth and record-breaking figures.

Between January and September, €10,300 million was spent on real estate assets, up by 58% compared to the same period last year, say sources at the real estate consultancy firm CBRE. Between July and September, the volume of investment moderated with respect to the “extraordinary figures” recorded during the first half of the year, to amount to more than €2,700 million. “This data is very positive and confirms investors’ appetite for the Spanish real estate sector”, said Adolfo Ramírez-Escudero, President of CBRE España.

By type of property, retail assets and hotels are the investment focus, accounting for 26% and 23% of the total, respectively, although all of the assets are experiencing growing interest. “Domestic and international investors are continuing to see Spain as a market with great potential and are showing interest in the full range of asset types”, say sources at CBRE.

In total, the retail sector accounted for €2,700 million of the total investment during the first 9 months of 2017, comprising both shopping centres and high street premises. Meanwhile, operations such as the purchase of Edificio España by the hotel chain RIU for €272 million increased investment in hotel assets during the first nine months of the year, by more than 122% with respect to the same period in 2016, to reach €2,390 million. Another type of asset that saw an exponential increase in its investment was the logistics business, which grew by 153%, to amount to more than €1,500 million. In the case of offices, investment rose by more than 38% to reach €1,542 million, whilst investment in residential assets fell by 32% to €617 million.

Buyer profile

By nationality, overseas investors accounted for 67% of the total volume spent, compared with domestic buyers (22%) and Socimis (10%) – which, although they are Spanish companies, are mostly financed by international capital -. “Last year, Socimis accounted for 43% of real estate investments. Nevertheless, this year, their role has been moderated and they have only participated in 10% of the transacted volume”, explain sources at CBRE.

The replacement of Socimis – which are focusing on managing their portfolios and selling their first non-strategic assets this year – is being led by foreign funds, with new profiles and nationalities closing operations in Spain. Such is the case of the Australian firm Macquarie, which has purchased Empark.

In fact, overseas investment in 2017 has been led by buyers from the Middle East and Asia Pacific, which account for 31% of the total volume of international investment. They are followed by US funds, which account for 18%, and buyers from France, with 17% of the total share, say sources at CBRE. “Overseas investment has increased by 73% with respect to the same period last year, to reach €6,747 million, backed by an increase in investment from most countries, with the exception of the USA and Germany, whose investment volumes have decreased by 36% and 48%, respectively.

Thanks to the good behaviour of the market during the first 9 months of the year, experts predict that 2017 will close with investment of more than €13,000 million, in line with the volumes registered in 2016 and 2015, which were characterised by several large corporate operations.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Macquarie Will Complete Empark Purchase In Q4

31 July 2017 – Expansión

The Australian firm Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets has formalised, through the fund Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund, the purchase of 100% of the Spanish car park operator Empark. The acquisition is expected to be closed in the last quarter of the year. The fund will be the only shareholder of Empark, which comprises three business units and owns more than 535,000 parking spaces in 180 municipalities across six countries. Empark operates primarily in Spain and Portugal but is also present in Andorra, France, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Saba & Macquarie Compete For Spanish Car Parking Operator Empark

24 July 2017 – Reuters

Saba Aparcamientos and Macquarie have both submitted final offers for Spain’s Empark, valuing the car park operator at 900 million to 1.2 billion euros, sources close to the deal said.

Portuguese real estate group Silva & Silva is selling the 79% stake it owns in Empark, which operates 530,000 parking spaces is Spain, Portugal, Britain and Turkey, through holding companies Assip and Parkinvest.

Minority shareholder Haitong and Transport Infrastructure Investment Company (TIIC) could sell its 21% stake if satisfied with the price on offer, one source said.

But the minority shareholders have pre-emption rights and have agreed to sell these to Deutsche Asset Management if the offers are too low, the source added.

Saba, Macquarie and Deutsche Bank all declined to comment.

Last year, Empark recorded revenues of 201.3 million euros ($234 million) and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of 71.4 million.

The company is funded with 385 million of corporate bonds maturing in 2019, including a 235 million fixed-rate tranche paying 6.75% and a 150 million floating-rate tranche paying 5.5% over three-month Euribor.

It also has 80.8 million euros of non-recourse debt across various project loans to finance 11 car parks that are not fully owned by Empark, where it holds stakes of 50% or more.

The company says its net debt amounts to 6.4 times its adjusted EBITDA.

JP Morgan and Caixa BI are advising the sellers.

Original story: Reuters

Translation: Carmel Drake

Saba Wants To Complete A Major Purchase Before Its IPO

1 June 2017 – Expansión

Saba is analysing several major operations with the aim of growing in size before it debuts on the stock market, according to the plans that the company’s President, Salvador Alemany (pictured above, right) outlined yesterday, at the car park group’s General Shareholders’ Meeting.

“We are looking at operations that would allow us to grow significantly and which would take several months or years to complete; afterwards [with our debut on the stock market], we would see the results of all of the efforts that we have been making since 2011”, said Alemany yesterday, in response to two questions from the company’s two minority shareholders. For the time being, there is no specific timetable for the firm’s debut on the stock market – Saba set itself the objective at the same time that it was carved out from Abertis in 2011.

The CEO of Saba, Josep Martínez Vila (pictured above, left), confirmed that Empark is one of the operations under analysis, but that there are also others in the running. The advantage of acquiring that firm stems from the fact that it would allow Saba to double in size; by contrast, it would mean concentrating its business even more in Spain, which last year accounted for 71% of its turnover.

The group closed 2016 with turnover of €202 million, compared to €225 million in 2015, a year when it was still recording revenues from its logistics parks. Saba, which yesterday approved the distribution of an issue premium amounting to €20 million, earned €4 million from its ordinary activity, a figure that increases to €32.36 million with the profits from its logistics business.

The company, which was just awarded the contract to manage 12,000 parking spaces in three shopping centres in Chile, has also just agreed with the banks to improve the conditions of a €465 million loan.

Original story: Expansión (by A. Zanon)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Empark’s Owners Engage JP Morgan To Sell The Giant For €850M

19 May 2017 – Expansión

Empark is back on the market. The Portuguese controlling shareholders of the car park company have engaged JP Morgan to find a buyer for an entity worth around €850 million, on the basis of the prices and valuations of other similar transactions in the sector. Empark is the leading car park company in Spain with 500,000 parking spaces in the Iberian Peninsula, the United Kingdom and Turkey. The firm’s gross operating profit (EBITDA) amounts to €65 million and its debt, which the company has been restructuring over the last year, amounts to €475 million.

Following the most recent changes, Empark’s shareholder structure is still dominated by the Portuguese investors Silva & Silva, which own 78% of the company. The second largest shareholder is the Chinese conglomerate Haitong, with a 14% stake.

The company’s control vehicle is dominated by the founding families, who participate in the management of the group. The main executives of Empark are José Augusto Tavares, Pedro Mendes (Executive President) and Antonio Moura.

The last attempt to sell the company was made in 2015. Then, the company progressed to the stage of selecting a buyer, Vinci Park (Ardian), but the operation did not come to fruition. Vinci Park reported the breakdown in its negotiations to buy Empark in July of that year after finalising its due diligence work, which produced unsatisfactory findings. Ultimately, the company was concerned about Empark’s high exposure to town halls which, following the local elections held that year, were considering “re-municipalisation”.

Sources close to the fund Ardian say that they are not interested in the operation at the moment. The infrastructure investment giant put Indigo (formerly Vinci park) up for sale this year for around €3,000 million. The sale of Empark is quite complex, given that the shares of the car park company serve, in turn, to secure the shareholders’ personal loans.

According to sources close to the operation, the Portuguese shareholders have dragged the other shareholders into the sale and have been given until the beginning of October to find a buyer. They are keen to leverage the ‘drag along clause’ set out in the company’s shareholder agreements (which means that when a third party makes an offer to purchase the company by buying all of its share capital, then the shareholder that has the ‘drag along right’ may force the other shareholders to sell their stakes to the buyer).

Sources in the sector believe that if Pedro Mendes and his partners do not find an investor with a reasonable offer in time, Haitong may push ahead with the operation by itself or with one of Empark’s creditor banks. Deutsche Bank is one of the company’s latest lenders. The German bank manages the fund RREEF Infrastructure.

One of the possible candidates to analyse the purchase operation is the fund First State, which acquired España Parkia from the Nordic fund EQT and Mutua Madrileña in 2016 for just over €300 million. The US fund Alinda is also very active in Spain. It has made an offer to buy Isolux’s car park portfolio. Another candidate could be the Chinese firm Haitong

Original story: Expansión (by C. Morán)

Translation: Carmel Drake

EQT To Sell Parkia To First State For €300M+

24 June 2016 – Expansión

The Nordic fund EQT has brought forward the process to select offers for the purchase of its 66.8% stake in Parkia, one of the leaders in the Spanish car park market. According to sources, the likely buyer is the Australian fund First State. The consideration paid could amount to more than €300 million for 100% of the company.

EQT, advised by BBVA, may announce the completion of the operation today. Parkia’s other shareholder is Mutua Madrileña, which controls 33.2% of the car park company. The Spanish insurance company may also sell its stake to First State if it considers the price to be attractive enough. According to the terms of the bid, interested parties must submit two offers: one for the shares owned by EQT and another for 100% of the company.

After undertaking a preliminary process to select certain bids a few weeks ago, several groups passed through to the final round. As well as First State, the other finalists included Saba, Empark, Indigo (controlled by the fund Ardian) and Interparking. Provided there are no last minute changes, EQT will opt to award the shares to the Australian fund. In theory, the definitive deadline for the receipt of offers had been extended until the middle of July, but EQT decided to bring forward the transaction.

Valuation

Throughout the sales process, interested investors have indicated a valuation range for the whole company of between €300 and €350 million, which represents between 15x and 17x of forecast EBITDA for 2016 (c. €20 million).

First State is known in Spain because it acquired a stake in the Galician regasification firm Reganosa which had belonged to the savings banks. First State is the asset management arm of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, one of the largest banks in Australia. The sale of Parkia represents a turning point in the car park sector, which has received renewed interest from investors thanks to improvements in activity.

Original story: Expansión (by C. M. / D. B. / M. P. L.)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Saba & Ardian Bid For Spain’s 3rd Largest Car Park Group

17 May 2016 – Expansión

A dozen “Spanish and international” candidates have submitted bids for the purchase of Parkia, the third largest car park group in Spain, owned by the Nordic fund EQT. Market sources say that the candidates include major companies in the sector, such as Saba, Indigo (controlled by the investment fund Ardian), Interparking and Empark, as well as financial groups specialising in infrastructures, such as Infravía.

Some sources also include Globalvía on the list of interested parties, but a spokesperson for the concessionaire said yesterday that they are not going to submit a bid for Parkia. Sabadell is also expected to submit a bit, thanks to its partnership with the funds Altamar and Firmium, through which it plans to invest more than €150 million in car parks in Spain.

The exact amount of the bids has not been revealed, but sources state that the perceived competitiveness and facilities available to investors to leverage the transaction have helped to boost the price. Sources in the know indicate a valuation range for the whole company of between €300 million and €350 million, which would represent between 15x and 17x of the forecast EBITDA for 2016, which is expected to amount to €20 million.

EQT must decide “in the next few days”, say the sources, which bidders will make the cut and proceed to the next phase of the process, which will involve a period of due diligence (audit of the assets), in which the potential buyers will analyse the company in detail so as to prepare their binding offers.

The plan is to select between “three and five” investors from the initial interested parties, who will participate in the definitive bid. The aim is to complete the process by the end of July.

Although the operation is moving ahead, the role of Mutua Madrilña – the co-owner of Parkia with 33.2% of the capital – is still uncertain. In theory, the Spanish insurance company plans to retain its stake in the car park manager, but that will depend on the conditions that EQT ends up agreeing, say sources. Mutua declined to comment on the deal. (…).

Parkia owns 58 car parks, with a total supply of 27,000 parking spaces and an average concession life of 30 years. The company’s revenues amounted to €33 million last year. (…).

Original story: Expansión (by M. Ponce de León, D. Badía and C. Morán)

Translation: Carmel Drake