Stuttgart, 9 October 2019 – Europe’s leading parking operator, APCOA PARKING (APCOA), has completed the acquisition of the business of Nationwide Controlled Parking Services (NCPS), one of the biggest car park operators in Ireland, including subsidiaries PEA and Mobile Research Solutions, t/a parkbytext. NCPS manages over 1,100 car parks with a total number of over 100,000 car park spaces. Following approval by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) the acquisition was legally completed on 8 August 2019.
The combined operation resulting from the acquisition sees APCOA’s business in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland double in size to cover more than 1,750 site locations and it will enable them to service all counties in both countries.
“We view this as a very exciting development for APCOA and NCPS as the companies complement each other well. This acquisition combines the strengths of the businesses across all sectors, markets and geographies and brings together two strong management teams with complementary skills and abilities”, says Philippe Op De Beeck, CEO of APCOA PARKING Group.
In addition, with the financial backing of the APCOA group, the combined operation in Ireland benefits from increased opportunities for further investment in the business and technologies. With the joined expertise and customer base across both countries, the acquisition makes APCOA a leading mobile parking operator providing convenient, cashless and cost-effective payment options to nearly 200,000 parking customers.
During the integration process day-to-day operations continue as at present. APCOA and NCPS will continue to focus on providing the highest levels of customer service.
APCOA’s existing business in Northern Ireland operated a number of sites including two city centre multi storey car parks in Belfast city centre. The NCPS subsidiary PEA brings a further c. 80 locations, primarily in the greater Belfast area with key sites such as the iconic Titanic Quarter, numerous NHS hospitals and Trusts and the Odyssey Event Centre.
APCOA sees this investment as strengthening their position in Ireland and providing a platform for increased growth. “APCOA and NCPS both view this as a real opportunity to broaden the strength of our services to our clients in Ireland and to improve our capabilities by bringing together the best knowledge, systems and operational experience and practice”, says Op De Beeck.
Already in the beginning of May APCOA bought Onepark A/S in Denmark one of the country’s leading parking operators with 170 employees operating about 600 parking sites with 50,500 parking spaces. With OnePark, APCOA was able to expand the number of contracts by 540 and is now the market leader in Denmark. The two companies are already fully integrated and have moved into a new Head Office.
