Europe’s Q-Park refinances with €925m facility

European carpark operator Q-Park has signed a €925m credit facility with a syndicate of five banks.

The new loan refinances an existing €1.15bn facility which would have matured in October 2016. The company has been reducing its total leverage and its average effective interest, which was 4.9%. Its debt is secured on property valued at around €1.4bn.

ABN Amro acted as coordinator and Rabobank, ING Bank, KBC Bank and HSBC participated.

Dutch company Q-Park, which is based in Maastricht, operates more than 6,100 parking facilities with over  830,000 parking spaces in 10 European countries including the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Nordics.

The €925m loan is for up to seven years, subject to extension options and includes the option to release security.

Frank De Moor, chief executive of Q-Park, said: “We are delighted with the international bank syndicate’s long-term commitment to Q-Park which demonstrates their confidence in our strategic direction.”

Pricoa Mortgage Capital and Insight Investment refinanced €280m of Q-Park’s CMBS debt, backed by parking lots across the Netherlands and the UK, in 2013. That loan repaid a €300m facility, securitised in the Rabobank-issued Quality Parking 2007 CMBS, in which Insight was a noteholder.

“Q-Park took the opportunity to redefine its core bank group,” said ABN Amro, on behalf of the banks participating in the latest refinancing.

“The syndicate banks are very keen to support Q-Park in the coming years. This transaction underlines the confidence which the banks have in Q-Park’s business model.”