February 15, 2015 — Activist investors suddenly have taken a keen interest in automotive-related companies. Is that good news for the targeted firms? It depends on who you ask. CDK Global, Autobytel, and now, General Motors, are the recent targets of activist investors. It’s a relatively new phenomenon in automotive retail. Automotive manufacturing suppliers have… Continue Reading
January 26, 2015 — Sitting in the San Francisco airport waiting for a flight (after missing my morning flight) and going through nearly 50 pages of notes from last week’s NADA convention and related conferences. I’m not a big theme guy, but on the last day of the convention, that seemed to be the question I heard the… Continue Reading
January 11, 2015 — CDK Global suddenly is attracting the attention of Wall Street investors and analysts following two prominent hedge funds taking activist positions in the company since its IPO and spinoff from ADP in early October. The early returns have been strong — a stock price that began trading in the mid-twenties hit…
December 27, 2014 — Much of the auto industry’s discussion regarding cyber warfare focuses on the inherent vulnerabilities of the connected vehicle. But one area that receives little scrutiny is the retail side of the automotive industry. This will soon change as dealerships likely will become one of the central battlefields in the cyber wars that will be… Continue Reading
December 18, 2014 — DealerTrack today announced it has acquired the international DMS firm incadea for $190.3 million (about $63 million more than incadea’s market cap) using cash on hand and cash from existing credit facilities. The company was once owned by Reynolds and Reynolds from 2003 to 2007. It’s an important deal — and…
December 11, 2014 — Recent developments in patent law playing out in an expensive two year dispute involving Auto Alert, DealerSocket and Dominion Dealer Services portend a world in which defending patents that are for business based processes becomes significantly more difficult. How will the dispute affect the data mining equity world in automotive retail space? And…
December 5, 2015 — DealerTrack apparently likes to make surprise announcements in December. Last year, it announced the acquisition of Dealer.com in what turned out to be a $987 million deal. Yesterday, the Long Island-based dealer technology firm confirmed it is in preliminary discussions to make another acquisition and will announce its decision by or on January 1,…
November 24, 2014 — Teachers in Texas apparently like the financial prospects of franchised car dealerships. One of the country’s largest pension funds, the Teachers Retirement System of Texas is investing in Capital Automotive, a firm that provides sale-leaseback capital to car dealers, through an investment fund established by Capital’s parent Brookfield Property Partners. Brookfield…
November 23, 2014 — Cox Automotive continues to be active in the acquisition space buying the assets of small used car data firm last week, following its $325 million purchase of Xtime two weeks ago. It.has spent approximately $3 billion on both U.S. and international (China and Brazil) acquisitions since 2010. Meanwhile, the Atlanta-based firm…
It continues to be a sizzling year for acquisitions in the automotive retail space. The Banks Report has learned the latest company to be acquired is Xtime, a firm that provides technology solutions to dealership service departments. Cox Automotive is announcing this afternoon that it has acquired the Redwood City, CA-based firm for $325 million…