Bouwfonds IM – UK car parks acquisition

Bouwfonds IM is the real asset investment management division of Rabo Real Estate Group, one of Europe’s leading real estate companies. The company invests in diverse sectors, including parking. In May 2015, Bouwfonds commissioned Parking Matters to help them acquire off-street car parking assets in the UK.

Parking Matters created a database of over 2000 UK car parks and applied filters, including the fund’s investment criteria and the team’s own industry knowledge, to produce a shortlist of suitable assets.  Gordon Allison’s in-depth knowledge of the NCP portfolio enabled us to identify 3 target car parks: Dumfries Place (Cardiff), Church Street (Brighton) and Spinningfields (Manchester). Working with Jones Lang LaSalle as joint agents, we approached the owner and facilitated a productive negotiation.

Results
Contracts were exchanged within two months of our first approach to the owner in November 2015 and Bouwfonds successfully acquired all 3 car parks shortly thereafter for an overall investment of about £66 million.

“We chose Parking Matters for their in-depth knowledge of the industry. This allows us to identify the right type parking assets for our fund. The partnership strategy they adopted with JLL was effective and the whole process went smoothly.”

Ruud Roosen, Director Parking