Israeli firm plans to buy into NCP

ISRAEL'S energy and property group Delek Belron International is poised to buy a large stake in the NCP car parks group from the Royal Bank of Scotland.

In a regulatory filing in Tel Aviv this week, Delek said it was 'checking a proposal to buy part of the rights in a company that holds real estate that are used as parking lots in England'.

Israel's Maariv newspaper later reported that Delek was in talks to buy £600m worth of NCP assets, although Delek denies the figure is anything like that.

Delek said its share of the deal would be between £17m and £25m, though analysts say the size of the deal could be bumped up through gearing. The company said it would issue an announcement if and when a deal is concluded.

Meanwhile, other reports suggest that another Israeli, Igal Ahouvi, is in talks with RBS to buy the entire NCP portfolio. It is believed that Ahouvi is the representative of the consortium which includes Delek. Ahouvi is represented in London by Andy Barrs of property advisers Barrs Freer-Smith.

RBS last year helped to finance Cinven's £820m purchase of the NCP car parks business from Cendant and is reported to have lent Ahouvi and his clients money in the past.