July 21, 2021 — Following a scuttled SPAC attempt earlier this year for portfolio company Solera Holdings, Vista Equity Partners now is planning for an initial public offering later this year or early next year. The original strategy called for partnering with special purpose acquisition company Apollo Growth Strategic Capital, which had raised $817 million…
July 7, 2021 — After more than $200 million being invested in automotive digital retailing firms the last few years, two large strategic transactions in June signaled the sector has entered the acquisition/consolidation phase. A third deal, set to be announced this morning, pushes the total amount spent on purchases of firms offering digital retailing…
October 22, 2020 — Dealership technology vendor Tekion Corp. announced this morning it has raised $150 million in a recently completed Series C round led by Advent International. Other investors in the latest round are Index Ventures, Exor (the holding company of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Ferrari), Airbus Ventures, and FM Capital, which includes a… Continue Reading
August 7, 2020 — Since May 2019, Private equity firm Thoma Bravo has engaged in an acquisition spree in the automotive space compiling a group of five companies providing data and software services to automakers and dealers. In the last 15 months, Thoma Bravo has acquired Autodata Solutions (ChromeData), J.D. Power and Associates, Trilogy Automotive,…
May 3, 2020 — In an SEC filing late last week, CDK Global revealed the terms of the sale of its digital marketing division to Ansira Partners. As suspected, the deal was not for much money. CDK is getting a $24 million note receivable from Ansira. There was a surprise, however. CDK is getting a… 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
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…