A US parking lot giant has teamed up with private equity investors to take control of NCP, its struggling UK rival.
Sky News learned that REEF Technology, whose backers include Japan’s SoftBank and an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, made a joint offer for NCP on Tuesday with Bain Capital Credit.
The offer, which is said to include an unsecured £ 150 million loan to secure NCP’s finances, comes less than 48 hours before the car park operator’s creditors are due to vote on a controversial restructuring plan that annoyed a number of landlords.
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REEF Technology counts Japan’s SoftBank among its supporters
A city source said Tuesday that Bain Capital Credit and REEF Technology are confident their joint proposal is “proven to be better for landlords and NCP than the current plan” being considered by creditors.
“This is an unrivaled strategic and financial partnership that NCP and its management team should support going forward,” they added.
They insisted that under the consortium’s proposal, creditors would have the ability to “participate in future value creation,” with the ability in some cases to recover more than their compromised debt.
Incorporating REEF’s strategic decision-making into the NCP deal would also give the UK car park chain better chances of survival in a post-pandemic world, they said.
REEF, the source said, has “pioneered alternative, higher-value uses for parking lots,” reflecting how city life and traffic change in the form of electric vehicles, dark kitchens and vertical farms in locations across the United States.
The company is supported by major investors such as SoftBank, Mubadala and Oaktree.
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Bain Capital Credit is the credit investment arm of one of the world’s largest private equity groups
Bain Capital Credit is the credit investment arm of Bain Capital, one of the world’s largest private equity groups.
If the current recovery plan is blocked by creditors, NCP can seek judicial clearance to set aside these objections – part of a new form of bankruptcy that has rarely been tested in the UK since its inception.
NCP would be on the brink of collapse if the program is not approved, which underscores the importance of a company that operates in more than 500 UK locations and employs approximately 1,000 people.
A key question for NCP and its current owner, Japanese company Park24, will be whether the offer can be submitted before the company runs out of money.
An NCP spokeswoman said: “The restructuring committee will fully examine all available options.”
A spokeswoman for Bain Capital Credit declined to comment.
The overall value of the consortium’s bid was unclear on Tuesday.
