October 15, 2015 — Fremont Private Holdings is acquiring Morrie Wagener’s 11 dealership-group in Minnesota. Partnering with Fremont is Karl Schmidt, who has run Morrie’s Automotive Group since 2009 as its CEO. Fremont, which is the investment firm established by the family that owns construction company Bechtel Corp., has been rumored for about two years to… Continue Reading
September 18. 2015 — Following up on July and August’s torrid pace of 40 dealerships each month changing owners, the first 18 days of September has had at least 20 stores with new owners — including 11 this week alone. (That does not include the 11 Sam Swope stores AMSI is expected to close on in the…
September 9, 2015 — A torrid July and August in the dealership buy-sell market saw 81 rooftops change hands bringing the 2015 total to 322 through the first eight months of the year — just two shy of all of 2014’s total. Averaging about 40.25 buy-sells a month this year, the industry is on pace to…
September 4, 2015 — We’re putting the finishing touches on the July and August dealership buy-sell updates. It has been a vibrant and active summer, and as we enter the fall months, several large deals are rumored to be nearing the finish line, including the AMSI’s pending acquisition of 11 stores of the Sam Swope… Continue Reading
August 18, 2015 — AutoNation announced this morning its biggest acquisition by revenue since 2001. The nation’s largest dealer group is acquiring 16 dealerships — 13 from Carl Gregory Enterprises and three stores owned by the Valley Motors Auto Group. Combined, the stores generated more than $600 million in revenue in 2014 on nearly 20,000 new and used…
July 13, 2015 — The Holman Automotive Group acquired Princeton BMW MINI in New Jersey today from the Asbury Automotive Group. It is Holman’s second acquisition in the last several weeks as it acquired Audi of Willow Grove outside of Philadelphia in June. Holman operates approximately 22 franchises located in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Florida. The… Continue Reading
July 11, 2015 — Headlines in the trade press in January hyped the increasing involvement private equity would play in automotive retail — specifically in the acquisition of dealerships. On the heels of Warren Buffett’s announcement of that Berkshire Hathaway was buying the 81-store Van Tuyl automotive group (a deal that ended up being for… Continue Reading
July 5, 2015 — Through June, dealership buy-sells continues to be vibrant and is on a record pace fueled by a strong May and June coupled with Berkshire Hathaway’s purchase of the Van Tuyl Group in March. Meanwhile, automakers continue to leverage the Right of First Refusal to scuttle deals. The industry hit the mid-point…
June 30, 2015 — Lei Shing Hong recently acquired 15 Mercedes Benz dealerships in Germany following its purchase of two Mercedes stores in Australia outbidding other groups including one from the U.S. looking to establish a presence there. The world’s largest Mercedes Benz dealer is Lei Shing Hong Ltd, a Chinese company with approximately 180 Mercedes dealerships… Continue Reading
June 11, 2015 — Since October of 2014, when asked which automotive brands I like during the Q&A sessions following presentations I’ve given, my advice has been to “Sell your Chrysler store today.” Often the response is incredulous — “Sales are through the roof, and we’re making money, why would we sell?” is the question.…
