GED, a private equity group operating in the middle-market segment through its investee company GED Infrastructure, has completed the sale of an 8.27% stake that its infrastructure fund held in Empark Aparcamientos y Servicios. The share has been sold to two of the company’s current shareholders. The operation which was completed in 2016, ended in February after obtaining the authorization of the bondholders’ syndicate that currently finance Empark.
The investment of GED’s Infrastructure fund in the project amounted to €20.5 M, constituting one of the most relevant operations of the investment vehicle. The sale was conducted after the objectives of the investment were reached.
GED Infrastructure acquired Cintra Aparcamientos, together with other financial partners, in 2009 from the Ferrovial group. It subsequently merged it with Emparque, Portuguese company, to create the main parking lot operator in the Iberian Peninsula, both by revenue and by number of managed car parking spaces, with a total of around 380,000 spaces. Nowadays, Empark has become one of the main European operators, with more than 530,000 parking spaces under management and with business in the Iberian Peninsula, the UK and Turkey.
This transaction for the sale of GED Infrastructure’s stake in Empark Aparcamientos follows the sale of Metro Ligero Oeste (Light rail) to British fund Aberdeen in March 2016. The fund responsible for both operations was constituted with an initial capital of €169 M and its participants are institutional investors. GED will start fundraising for its next infrastructure fund in the near future.
According to Victoriano López-Pinto, managing partner at GED and the person responsible for its infrastructure division, "the success of the divestment in Empark Aparcamientos is an example of the capacity of the GED Infrastructure team to generate long-term value and of the infrastructure sector’s virtues,which is capable of producing attractive returns even when market conditions are unfavorable."
GED Infrastructure: a commitment to diversification
GED Partners, an independent private equity group, reached an agreement with Ahorro Corporación for the purchase of its fund management business two years ago. This activity included five investment vehicles, three of which are promoted by the European Investment Bank. The total amount of projects developed by GED Infrastructure currently amounts to more than €2,000 M euros with a highly diversified composition: transport, telecommunications, parking, social infrastructure, ports, energy efficiency, etc.
The acquisition of infrastructure funds enabled GED to diversify its business and to incorporate a new asset class suited to the firm's overall strategy and the characteristics of its investors. The objective of GED is to consolidate itself as the landmark management fund in Spain in middle-market infrastructure operations.
About GED (www.gedcapital.com)
GED is an independent Private Equity management company founded in 1996. It currently manages some €700 M through different Private Equity, Infrastructure and Real Estate vehicles between the Iberian Peninsula and South Eastern Europe and has a portfolio of 36 holdings. GED has a universe of more than 50 domestic and foreign investors, including mainly pension funds, funds of funds, insurance companies, family offices and financial institutions.
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