Cendant Sells British National Car Parks

PARSIPPANY, NJ— Cendant Corp. has sold its British National Car Parks unit for about $1.2 billion to Parking International and will use the money to finish funding the settlement of a shareholder lawsuit. Additionally, the deal gives Cendant cash to fuel European expansion. Parking International, a consortium led by British investment firm Cinven, won a bidding war for the unit that did not garner the $1.4 billion Cendant originally sought. The sale allowed Cendant finish paying off a $2.85 billion settlement from shareholder claims of accounting fraud in the 1998 merger that formed Cendant. “This is a very important landmark,” said Jake Fuller, analyst at Thomas Weisel Partners. “It will mark a point in time at which the company was able to begin accelerating its business. The company has been in what I would call defensive mode for most of the last couple of years.” The sale does not change Cendants 2002 earnings per share forecast of $1.36, the company said. National Car Parks runs more than 500 parking lots and is the largest British car park operator. SOURCE: Reuters