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.…
June 7, 2015 — May was a monster month for dealership acquisitions setting a monthly record for number of transactions since January 2013. Notable deals included Group 1 Automotive, Lithia Motors, Bill Jacobs, Tom Durant and Euro Motor Cars, Victory Automotive and AutoNation. At least 33 transactions accounted for 41 dealerships changing owners in May, according to…
May 17, 2015 — New Country Motor Cars Inc. recently added six top-line franchises to bring its total number of locations to 30. It’s only the seventh transaction since January 2013 that included six or more dealerships and is the second biggest acquisition of the year. Michael Cantanucci’s New Country Automotive Group in Hartford, CT is turning into…
May 8, 2015 — The public dealer groups are off to a slow start in 2015 on the acquisition front. Asbury Automotive Group announced its first purchase of the year last night, acquiring Capitol City Nissan in the Atlanta area. The transaction is only the ninth this year completed by the six public groups according to data…
May 7, 2015 — With all the chatter of private equity and names like Warren Buffett getting into the automotive retail space, there have been few large deals completed. Only two transactions for more than eight stores and only six that have been for five or more have been signed since January 2013, according to data compiled… Continue Reading
The newly minted Berkshire Hathaway Automotive wasted little time making its first acquisition buying Frank Kent Honda in Fort Worth, TX last week. The dealership was owned by Corrie Watson and her brother Will Churchill who decided to sell following the unexpected death of Watson’s husband, Tim. Churchill and Watson are great grandchildren of Frank Kent… Continue Reading