Wednesday, 19 August 2026
Lysara has completed the transition of 30 UK car parks previously leased to NCP, introducing a new operating structure that combines long-duration contracted income from Q-Park with direct operating exposure through Apex Parking.
The pan-European transport infrastructure company has agreed leases with Q-Park covering 20 properties, including agreements running for 20 and 30 years. A further 10 sites will be managed by Apex Parking, an existing Lysara operating partner.
The restructuring follows Lysara’s exercise of break options under the former NCP leases. The 30 properties form part of the company’s wider UK and European transport infrastructure platform, which Lysara says now comprises around 20,000 parking spaces.
The new structure gives Lysara two different forms of exposure to the parking market. The Q-Park properties provide longer-term contracted income backed by an established international operator, while the Apex-managed sites allow Lysara to retain greater exposure to operating performance and potential improvements in margins.
For Lysara, this combination is intended to strengthen income visibility without removing the opportunity to generate additional returns through active management.
Q-Park will operate the 20 leased properties under its Q-Park and Britannia Parking brands. The operator has a substantial European network, with its latest reporting showing 5,573 parking facilities and approximately 1.24 million spaces across seven Western European countries.
Q-Park reported an operating result of €376.2 million in 2025, alongside net revenue of approximately €1.08 billion, providing Lysara with a large-scale operating counterparty for the long-lease portion of the portfolio.
The transaction also expands Q-Park’s presence in UK city-centre parking, including locations where the company has not previously operated.
Adam Bidder, Managing Director for the UK and Ireland at Q-Park, said the properties provide the company with the type of long-term leases and locations it is seeking as it expands its UK network.
The other 10 car parks will operate under management agreements with Apex Parking. Rather than placing these assets under long leases, Lysara has retained the operating exposure because it sees greater potential to capture improvements in revenue and margins directly.
Guy Watson, Managing Director at Apex Parking, said the locations provide opportunities to improve performance through active local management and further development of the customer proposition.
The distinction between the two groups of properties is important from an investment perspective. Twenty of the assets are moving towards long-duration contracted infrastructure income, while the ten Apex-operated properties retain a more operational investment profile.
The strategy also preserves Lysara’s ability to introduce additional services across selected locations as transport patterns change.
Electric vehicle charging is particularly important to the company’s longer-term plans. Lysara positions its portfolio as transport infrastructure capable of supporting both conventional parking and rapid charging, with selected locations potentially accommodating additional charging capacity as demand increases.
The company currently reports approximately 50 MVA of secured power capacity across its platform, supporting its ambition to develop charging infrastructure for private vehicles and commercial fleets.
This means the longer-term value of the portfolio could extend beyond conventional parking income. Sites with suitable electrical capacity, accessibility and traffic volumes could potentially accommodate high-speed charging as vehicle electrification progresses across the UK.
The appointment of Q-Park also fits this direction. The operator has increasingly positioned parking facilities as broader mobility locations capable of incorporating EV charging alongside services such as car sharing, micromobility and last-mile logistics.
For parking property investors, this creates a changing asset-management proposition. Traditional demand remains important, but access to power, location and the ability to introduce new mobility services could increasingly influence the long-term value of individual sites.
Scott Parsons, CEO of Lysara, said the transition strengthens the quality and resilience of the portfolio while maintaining the flexibility to introduce additional services, including EV charging.
The restructuring also represents an important step in Lysara’s expansion under Parsons, who became CEO in 2025 with a mandate to develop the company’s parking and transport infrastructure activities across Western Europe.
From a real estate perspective, the 20- and 30-year Q-Park leases are particularly significant. Long-duration leases can increase income visibility and reduce direct exposure to day-to-day parking operations, although the ultimate investment quality depends on individual lease terms and counterparty performance.
The Apex portfolio provides a contrasting model. Lysara retains more operational risk but also has greater potential to participate directly in any increase in revenue resulting from better management, technology, pricing or investment in the properties.
The company is therefore not simply replacing one parking operator with another. It is dividing the former NCP portfolio between assets suited to long-term contracted income and properties where it believes retaining operational exposure offers greater potential.
Fried Frank and Shoosmiths advised Lysara on the transactions.
The completed transition gives Lysara a hybrid investment structure across the 30 properties: long-term income through Q-Park, operating upside through Apex and the potential to introduce EV charging and other mobility infrastructure over time.
As parking assets increasingly intersect with energy and transport infrastructure, that flexibility could become as important as conventional parking revenues in determining the long-term performance of the portfolio.
