21
June
2012
|
18:00 PM
America/New_York

Ohio State trustees approve $483 million offer to lease parking operations

The Ohio State University Board of Trustees approved a $483 million long-term lease and concession agreement for the university's parking operations with QIC Global Infrastructure and its operating partner LAZ Parking. The agreement will be effective in early October.

In turn, QIC and LAZ will establish CampusParc as a local entity to oversee the management of the lease. CampusParc will be governed by a three-member board of directors. Ohio State alumnus William (Bill) J. Lhota, recently retired president and chief executive officer of the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA), will serve as the chairman of the board.

Leasing the management of parking operations is part of Ohio State's comprehensive approach to generate new revenue to support academic excellence in a time of decreasing public funding for higher education.

"This agreement is one component of an overarching strategy to strengthen our faculty, students, and programs by generating new funding," said Ohio State Provost Joseph A. Alutto "Other strategies include increased research funding, private giving through our $2.5 billion fund-raising campaign, affinity agreements, and operating efficiencies, among other measures."

QIC Global Infrastructure, based in Queensland, Australia, is a long-term investor with a track record of building diversified global infrastructure portfolios, and LAZ Parking, based in Hartford, Conn., is one of the nation's leading parking operators. The term of the lease is 50 years.

Over 50 years, the $483 million upfront payment will provide $3.1 billion in investment earnings for academic initiatives such as hiring more faculty, offering more student scholarships, and supporting the arts and humanities. It also will fund the university's bus services, and will increase the long-term investment pool by $4.9 billion.

The agreement caps the annual parking rate increase at 5.5 percent for the first 10 years.

Alutto stressed that the university always will own its parking lots and garages, which total more than 35,000 spaces.

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About The Ohio State University

Founded in 1870, The Ohio State University is a world-class public research university and the leading comprehensive teaching and research institution in the state of Ohio. With more than 56,000 students enrolled at its Columbus campus, 14 colleges and 175 majors, the university offers its students exceptional breadth and depth of opportunity in the liberal arts, the sciences and the professions.

About QIC Global Infrastructure

QIC Global Infrastructure is an investment manager established in 2006 to meet the infrastructure needs of wholesale investors including superannuation funds, pensions and sovereign wealth funds. QIC GIC GI is a long-term investor with a track record of building diversified global infrastructure portfolios that deliver on specific risk/return objectives. QIC GI has a global infrastructure portfolio through direct and indirect investments in energy and water utilities, airports, rail rolling stock, toll roads and seaports in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the United Kingdom. More information is at www.qic.com.

About LAZ Parking

LAZ Parking has built one of the most stable, trusted, service-oriented and innovative parking operations in the United States. Founded in Hartford, CT, in 1981 as a valet service, the company now manages more than 600,000 parking spaces in 1,650 locations and is the fourth-largest parking company in the United States. LAZ currently operates more than 175,000 spaces for municipalities in the United States, including more than 40,000 on-street metered spaces, as well as more than 15,000 spaces for universities. More information is at www.lazparking.com.

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