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