Before the summer, the future of the Saba car park company must be defined. In the coming weeks it will be known if the talks with the Belgian Interparking have come to fruition and a European giant with a value of more than 3,000 million euros can be created, according to sources consulted. Last June, Criteria Caixa started a divestment process in the car park business. He controls 99.5% of Saba. The group gave itself a year to complete it, although it is hoped that the process can be closed sooner. In autumn, the conversations with Interparking to unite the two businesses came to light. Although Criteria Caixa does not comment on the operation, market sources believe that the investment group of Fundación La Caixa could remain as a shareholder. The operation fits with Criteria Caixa’s strategy of not having stakes close to 100%. But it does maintain smaller percentages of shares in larger groups.
Saba was born in 1966 when a group of builders built several car parks in different nerve centers of the city, such as Plaza Catalunya in Barcelona. The current company is the acronym of the name Sociedad de Aparcamientos de Barcelona, ??S.A. When it began in the 1960s, there were a total of 4,000 parking spaces in the city. Today Saba has a portfolio of 382,471 car parks in nine countries in Europe and Latin America distributed throughout 179 cities. In addition to Spain, it is present in the United Kingdom, Italy, Portugal, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Andorra, and Chile. The staff is made up of 2,017 people.
Now the company directed by Josep Martínez Vila and chaired by Salvador Alemany is working on new mobility to adapt its infrastructures in the city to the new consumption habits of customers. Criteria Caixa’s own report highlights the company’s efforts to have a network of car parks converted into mobility hubs. They have chargers for electric vehicles and car sharing services. In the case of companies, Saba offers services for fleets. Another of the new businesses is in the sustainable distribution of what is called the last mile. In the delivery of packages to homes, there is the possibility that the delivery company leaves the merchandise in cabinets with keys that only open with the secret password that the client receives.
In its annual report, Criteria maintains that “as of June 30, 2022, the assets and liabilities related to the car park management business carried out by the Saba Infraestructuras group are considered assets and liabilities of alienable groups held for sale.” The company is valued at 689 million euros.
Saba’s net result for the 2022 financial year improved by 12 million compared to the previous year, closing with a profit of 1 million euros. The report published by Criteria highlights that the improvement in results is due to “the recovery of activity and demand derived from the relaxation of lockdowns and mobility restrictions during the financial year 2022, until practically reaching pre-pandemic levels”. . Once the different adjustments and consolidation elements have been applied, the final result is a loss of 1 million. It is a significantly better figure than that of 2021 when it closed with losses of 15 million.
Interparking is a group very similar to Saba and somewhat larger in size. Bill 491.5 million with a gross result of 149.3 million. Saba, on the other hand, entered 274 million last year. The gross profit in 2021 – last year’s is not available – was just over 100 million.
