May 1, 2020 — SiriusXM-owned Automatic Labs announced on its website it is shutting down operations on May 28, 2020, due to COVID-19. In a statement on its website, the company says, “With fewer consumers purchasing and leasing vehicles and drivers on the road, we unfortunately do not see a path forward for our business.… Continue Reading
April 22, 2020 — Ansira Partners this morning announced it has finalized the purchase of CDK Global Digital Marketing Business and is renaming it Sincro. including all advertising solutions and website services. The deal positions Ansira to expand its automotive business, specifically with General Motors, one of CDK’s top OEM clients. Ansira has had a… Continue Reading
April 14, 2020 — Online used-vehicle retailer Carvana share price jumped nearly 23% yesterday to $75.28 and is up nearly another $7 in early trading this morning. That’s a 228.6% increase from just over three weeks ago when its stock price hit its 52-week low of $22.91. Each of the eight public dealer group stocks…
April 7, 2020 — Add collision repair to the list of businesses that will be decimated by the COVID-19 virus over the next couple of months. Even though vehicle service and repair shops are deemed “essential businesses” in each state, the collision business likely will plummet as vehicles are staying parked in driveways due to… Continue Reading
March 19, 2020 — Earlier this week, the Asbury Automotive Group (ABG) filed an 8-K document with the SEC informing investors it “intends to continue to evaluate alternatives,” regarding its pending acquisition of 10 dealerships from the Park Place group in Texas. The announcement is not a surprise given what the entire country — and…
March 9, 2020 — The number of franchise new-vehicle dealerships involved in buy-sell transactions declined 6.7% in 2019 from 2018. The number of transactions dropped 11.1% over the same period. Despite the decline, 2019 was the third most active year — in the number of rooftops and the number of transactions — over the last…
February 20, 2020 — Dealership technology firm CDK Global has signed an agreement to sell its website services and digital advertising assets to Ansira Partners, a subsidiary of Advent International. The deal is expected to close in the next few months. Terms have not been disclosed as of yet. Ansira, founded in 1919, is a… Continue Reading
February 3, 2020 — A month into the new year and there have been seven investments and acquisitions announced with at least one more expected in the next several days in the auto retail vendor space. The January activity continues the pace set in 2019 in which more than 70 acquisitions and investments were transacted.…
UPDATE – January 22, 2020: A temporary restraining order has been issued delaying the transaction till at least February 11. January 15, 2020 — Following Jonathan Ord’s December lawsuit against DealerSocket (reported last week by The Banks Report), co-founder Brad Perry filed his own lawsuit this week against investment firm Vista Equity Partners, its DealerSocket…
January 8, 2020 — Vista Equity Partners-backed DealerSocket announced this week it has agreed to acquire dealer management software vendor Auto/Mate. The deal (which as of yet, does not have a timeline) provides insight into Vista’s automotive plans, but there are questions still to be answered. Vista Equity is one of the bigger investors in…