KKR – a leading, global investment firm with more than € 118 Bn ($ 138 Bn) in assets under management – completed the acquisition of Q-Park N.V. through its infrastructure investment platform “KKR Infrastructure”.
Q-park, one of Europe’s leading parking services providers manages, owns and/or operates a network of more than 6,000 multi-storey parking facilities with more than 870,000 parking spaces.
Q-park’s management considers the acquisition an important step for the company with KKR’s infrastructure, mobility and real estate sector experience expected to accelerate strategic growth. Frank De Moor, CEO of Q-Park, stated that, with KKR’s strategic, financial and technical support, as well as better access to funding, the company could attract new public and private partners, launch new business propositions, provide improved parking solutions and fulfil its ambition to play a leading role in Europe’s parking industry.
KKR’s offer valued Q-park at more than 15x EBITDA of € 195 million for 2016. The company reported € 825 million in net revenue in 2016. The transaction will be financed through private equity and new bank facilities, as well as rolling over or refinancing of € 1 Bn of existing debt.
KKR Infrastructure considers the management team and Q-Park’s employees a fundamental asset and no major management changes or staff optimizations are anticipated. The brand name and corporate identity – clear differentiators in the industry – will also be preserved.
Very nice article. For a LBO, isn’t the leverage a bit too low ? – Leverage is only 34% of Enterprise value. Seems like the lending banks do not agree with the valuation given the low leverage