CriteriaCaixa advances in its strategic plan after the movements made in Telefónica, ACS, Colonial and Puig. The business holding company of Fundación La Caixa has agreed to sell Saba to the Belgian Interparking, for an undisclosed amount. With the merger, Interparking's current shareholders, AG Insurance and APG, will remain in the shareholding.
After years of negotiations, the operation has been closed, which will create the largest parking group in Europe, with headquarters in Brussels and offices in Barcelona. The new operator will have a portfolio of more than 2,000 car parks and almost 800,000 spaces. It will also have a presence in Latin America.
"With this operation, Saba will be integrated into a pan-European player in parking management, with the capacity to compete on a global scale and with a long-term industrial project," says the president of CriteriaCaixa, Isidro Fainé. Until now, Criteria owned 99.5% of Saba.
The investment arm of Fundación La Caixa will have an 18% stake in Interparking after the integration and will have the right to propose the appointment of two members of the board of directors. The new stake will become part of its private equity portfolio, where it gathers investments in unlisted companies and is expected to reach a value of 4,000 million euros by 2030.