Vinci Park confirms talks to buy Portuguese parking operator

French car parks group Vinci Park has confirmed it is in exclusive negotiations to buy Portuguese parking firm Empark for a price believed to be around €900 mln.

'Further discussions are still to be held before a final agreement is reached,' the Paris-based group said in a statement, adding that it will inform the market of 'any material developments in this respect'.

Empark, formerly known as Cintra, was sold in 2009 by infrastructure builder and operator Ferrovial for €451 mln. It owns around 500,000 car park spaces, mostly in Spain and Portugal, but also in the UK, Turkey, Andorra and Poland.

The company is majority-owned by the Assip Group (50.3%) and Es Concessions (22.2%), which in 2014 hired JP Morgan and Caixabank to search for a buyer.

Vinci, which is indirectly owned by Ardian, Crédit Agricole Assurances and Vinci Concessions, manages 1.9 billion parking spaces in 14 different countries. The deal would make it Europe's leading car park manager.