2003 Media Releases

DB Capital Partners, on behalf of four major superannuation funds, today settled on the sale of the International Parking Group (IPG) to a consortium led by James Fielding Group for $124 million.

The successful exit of the IPG business, which operates a portfolio of eight hospital carparks at major public hospitals in Sydney and Brisbane, provided DB Capital Partners’ clients with an average return of 20 per cent per annum on their initial private equity investment. DB Capital Partners first invested in IPG in 1998 when it acquired a 50 per cent interest in the company and moved to total control in early 2001.

According to David Shields, Managing Director and Head of DB Capital Partners, “Given the current climate where many funds are experiencing negative returns, achieving these returns is an excellent result. Well-targeted and managed private equity investments have a lot to offer investors – even in tough markets. In many respects, getting into investments is the easy part – successfully getting out is the real challenge for private equity investment managers,” said Mr Shields.

“We were always attracted to the investment fundamentals of hospital carparks and set out to develop a portfolio of assets to build scale and further diversify risk. We have held and developed IPG for five years, which is our target upper limit for holding private equity investments, and believe the full sale of IPG at this time has maximised value and provided liquidity for our clients.”

DB Capital Partners has successfully exited from 22 investments, generating a combined total value in excess of $600 million, and consistently delivering attractive returns for its clients.

For further information please contact:

David Shields
DB Capital Partners
Tel: (02) 9249 9783

Alan Kendrick
DB Capital Partners
Tel: (02) 9249 9172

Kristin Silva/Ainsley Gee
Corporate Communications
Tel: (02) 9249 9568 / (02) 9249 9904

About DB Capital Partners

DB Capital Partners is the private equity arm of the Deutsche Bank Group and is one of the largest managers of private equity funds in Australia, with more than A$1.6 billion in funds under management. Participating across the full spectrum of private equity investments, including venture capital, development capital and infrastructure, DB Capital Partners’ investments have realised more than A$600 million to date. The team consists of 19 private equity professionals with more than 75 years experience.