After a period of rapid expansion and development following 3i’s investment, which has seen the company move successfully into new areas of transport services, accompanied by an 18% increase in the number of employees, the business is to be split between the traditional car parking business (‘NCP’) and the quickly evolving outsourced services business (‘NCP Services’).

NCP Services is already the market leader in outsourced parking services and will also include NCP’s successful bus and coach operations, debt recovery and urban design consultancy. This side of NCP’s business has grown rapidly since its first contract win in 2000 and continues to do so.

The services company now has a turnover approaching £140m and employs almost 4,000 people. It operates a number of key government contracts across the UK, including recently won contracts for Northern Ireland Roads Service, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and the DVLA. It also runs the UK’s biggest parking contract, for Westminster City Council. 3i intends to remain principal shareholder in this business alongside management.

NCP, the iconic brand for UK car parks for over 75 years, continues to be the most successful car park operator in the UK. With 3i’s involvement it has benefited from considerable capital investment to install technology and keep the business at the forefront of its industry. This business is being acquired by Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund II in a £790m transaction providing NCP with a long term ownership structure.

Chris Williams, 3i Partner who led the transaction said: “This is evidence of the material difference private equity involvement can make to a business. NCP, led by an outstanding management team with great vision, has now exceeded expectations in its transition into a leading public sector outsourcing business.

We hadn’t planned to make any partial realisation at this stage, but with a business well ahead of its milestones, and strategically attractive to others, the board of NCP decided that Macquarie’s offer provided the right solution for developing both of the businesses further”.