City duo advise as 3i sells traffic enforcement company to AAC

Travers Smith and CMS Cameron McKenna have taken lead roles on private equity firm 3i's sale of National Car Parks (NCP) spin-off company NSL Services to a European buyout house.

Travers private equity head Philip Sanderson (pictured) led a team advising 3i on the £120m sale to AAC Capital Partners. The deal signed last week (20 September) and is set to close next month.

Travers private equity partner Paul Dolman advised NSL's management team, which is headed up by chief executive Mark Underwood.

Sanderson commented: "The private equity houses are out in the market and ready to invest – it is about finding the right quality assets to buy."

Camerons corporate partner Andrew Sheach led a team advising AAC, while Ashurst also won a role advising the syndicate of funding banks, which comprised Lloyds, Santander and Investec.

3i is a longstanding client of Travers, and in 2005 the firm advised the group on its £555m acquisition of NCP.

The firm went on to advise the company in 2007 on its demerger into two businesses: the traditional off-street car parking company NCP and traffic enforcement and transport management service provider NSL. At the time, NCP was sold to Australian bank Macquarie for £790m.

Travers has taken key roles on a number of notable private equity deals over the past year, including Bridgepoint Capital's £955m sale of Pets at Home to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Intermediate Capital Group's investment in CPA Global and the sale of pharma services firm Marken to a company backed by Apax.

However, the firm last month saw the departure of private equity partner David Innes, who left to join Wall Street leader Debevoise & Plimpton.