COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Ohio State University confirmed today it will recommend to its Board of Trustees QIC Global Infrastructure (QIC GI), supported by its operating partner LAZ Parking, as the university’s new parking concessionaire.
The recommendation goes to The Ohio State University Board of Trustees for consideration at its June 22 meeting. If approved, the agreement becomes effective beginning October 1.
QIC GI also announced William (Bill) J. Lhota, retired Central Ohio Transit Authority chief and a former American Electric Power Company executive, as its choice to serve as concessionaire chairman.
“In light of the positive outcome of the consultative process The Ohio State University has gone through, I am very pleased to announce that if final approval is granted by the Board of Trustees, Bill Lhota will assume the position of Chairman of the entity holding the parking concession,” said Ross Israel, Head of QIC Global Infrastructure. “Bill’s deep infrastructure management expertise and understanding of the university community will assist greatly as QIC GI, along with LAZ Parking, develops a long-term partnership with Ohio State in its stewardship of its campus parking system.”
Queensland, Australia-based QIC, in collaboration with LAZ Parking, of Connecticut, was one of three finalists for the Ohio State parking concession. “This transaction is a significant milestone for QIC GI, as it would be the first direct investment we have made on behalf of our clients in the United States,” Israel added.
“On behalf of the entire LAZ team, we are honored that university leadership has determined to make a recommendation to the university Board of Trustees in favor of QIC and LAZ Parking for Ohio State’s parking concession,” said Alan Lazowski, Chairman and CEO, LAZ Parking. “We appreciate the due diligence and hard work of the university and should the university move forward, we expect the transition to be seamless and customers can expect continued quality operations and service.”
The agreement would expand QIC GI’s committed client capital to more than $6.28 billion in 17 investments across 10 geographies. Israel called the concession a “high-quality core infrastructure investment” with a number of key investment merits, including:
- A long-term (50-year), exclusive concession agreement
- Stable, predictable parking demand generators, driven by the education and health sectors
- Ohio State’s significant, established parking system with guaranteed term revenue growth
- Predictable maintenance capital requirements
- A partnership with an experienced United States parking operator, LAZ Parking
- The diversification for QIC clients into the United States parking sector
About QIC
QIC is Australia’s third largest institutional investment manager (Rainmaker Survey, December 2011) with $63.2 billion in funds under management as of 31 March 2012.
More information is at www.qic.com.
About QIC Global Infrastructure
QIC Global Infrastructure is an investment manager established in 2006 to meet the infrastructure needs of wholesale investors including superannuation, pension and sovereign wealth funds. QIC 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.
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, Conn., 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.
About William (Bill) J. Lhota
Bill Lhota has extensive experience as the retired President and Chief Executive Officer of Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) and as retired President of Energy Delivery for American Electric Power Company (AEP). He also served as the Executive Vice President of AEP Service Corp. Bill has extensive experience in corporate governance, having served on the Board of Directors for the National Institute for Engineering Ethics at Texas Tech University, the National Society of Professional Engineers’ Board of Ethical Review, and the Columbus Regional Airport Authority.
Bill graduated from The Ohio State University in 1964 with a civil engineering degree and earned his master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1978. Ohio State awarded Bill the Outstanding Engineering Alumni Award in 1988 and the Distinguished Service Award in 2011. He also served on the Board of The Ohio State University Alumni Association and served as its Chair for two years.