Parking operator APCOA restructures, lowers debt by €440m

The troubled Stuttgart-headquartered APCOA Parking, the largest European operator of parking garages, has completed a major financial restructuring after nearly two years of complex negotiations, which should put it back on a strong financial footing.

Struggling in the last few years under the weight of its debt, the group has now undergone a “consensual financial structuring” which sees it slashing its debt burden by €440m permanently, and securing €80m of additional financing to support a much-needed capex program, along with extending existing loans by up to six years. The main creditors were Norway’s DNB Bank, Bank of Ireland and Japan’s Mizuho Bank.

The group is now majority-owned by US and UK-based private investment firm Centerbridge, which has taken control through debt-equity swaps and agreements creditors, and with previous main sponsor French private equity firm Eurazeo. The French group originally bought APCOA from Bahrain-based Investcorp for €885m in 2007, but itself nearly drowned under the weight of the debt it took on to finance the acquisition. In August last year Deutsche Bank also provided a loan of €90m.

APCOA has an annual turnover of €678m, with a staff of 4,700 managing 1.4m parking spaces at 7,400 locations in 12 European countries, including managing parking facilities at 30 European airports. Centerbridge, with offices in New York and London, has more than €25bn of assets under management.