Team leverages turnaround experience gained during Great Recession to help dealerships survive in wake of COVID-19
IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Kerrigan Advisors, in the wake of the global economic shock caused by the new coronavirus (COVID-19), has added confidential financial restructuring and turnaround services for auto dealerships to its consulting practice. The Kerrigan Advisors team’s deep experience helping businesses with successful restructuring, honed during the Great Recession, and their continued focus on assisting dealers in major strategic decisions, offers dealers a unique resource as they manage through this challenging period.
“Nearly 20% of auto dealerships closed their doors as a result of the Great Recession of 20081 with devastating impacts on local economies. Without serious planning and action, the current crisis could precipitate more closures of US auto dealerships,” said Erin Kerrigan, Founder and Managing Director of Kerrigan Advisors. “Kerrigan Advisors is dedicated to putting our expertise to work to help the nation’s auto dealers successfully navigate this very difficult crisis and avoid closures.”
“While the current crisis is not the result of specific economic vulnerabilities, there is no doubt the impact will be resounding – car sales were down 39% in March, and trending 55% down for the first two weeks of April, per JD Power. We know from our experience in 2008-2009 that if businesses pre-emptively take the right actions, they can survive and, ultimately, thrive after a crisis such as this,” continued Kerrigan. During the 2008 recession, Erin Kerrigan successfully led nearly a half a billion dollars’ worth of workouts on behalf of a major REIT and has the expertise to assist dealers to determine the right steps to manage through the current economic crisis.
Kerrigan Advisors is a leading advisor to dealership groups across North America in navigating key strategic decisions. With its expanded consulting service offering, the firm is well-positioned to assist dealers as they manage through the restructuring process with lenders, landlords and other creditors to achieve a mutually beneficial outcome. Kerrigan Advisors provides counsel to dealers during the critical strategic planning phase of restructuring and assists with operational performance issues and turnaround requirements. Key services include:
“Auto retailers are going to face some serious headwinds in the coming months. Metrics-based operations, cost control and cash flow planning will all be critical in managing through this cycle,” said Ryan Kerrigan, Managing Director of Kerrigan Advisers, whose expertise includes 5 years at McKinsey & Company advising Fortune 500 companies with strategic planning, operations and organizational issues, and profitability improvement.
“We have built a team that is uniquely qualified to serve auto dealers at this time. Erin and I both conducted significant restructuring work in the prior cycle. Gabe Robleto has worked through countless negotiations and restructuring of real estate contracts. Mercedes Hendricks has advised many dealers through cash flow planning, and Wayne Meyer is an accomplished auto retail executive with significant operational turnaround experience at the dealership level. Collectively, the expertise of the Kerrigan Advisors team has proven invaluable in helping auto dealerships survive through financial hardship,” continued Kerrigan.
Kerrigan Advisors’ suite of consulting services also includes growth strategies, capital allocation, transactional due diligence, return on investment analysis, open point proposals, valuation, operational improvement and real estate advisory. In addition, Kerrigan Advisors is well known as one of the top sell-side advisors in the auto retail industry.
Kerrigan Advisors is the leading sell-side advisor and thought partner to auto dealers nationwide. Since its founding in 2014, the firm has led the industry with the sale of over 275 dealerships representing nearly $9 billion in client proceeds, including the third largest transaction in auto retail history – the sale of Jim Koons Automotive Companies to Asbury Automotive Group. The firm advises the industry’s leading dealership groups, enhancing value through the lifecycle of growing, operating and, when the time is right, selling their businesses. Led by a team of veteran industry experts with backgrounds in investment banking, private equity, accounting, finance and real estate, Kerrigan Advisors does not take listings, rather they develop a customized sales approach for each client to achieve their personal and financial goals. In addition to the firm’s sell-side advisory services, Kerrigan Advisors also provides a suite of consulting and investor services including growth strategy, market valuation assessments, capital allocation, transactional due diligence, open point proposals, operational improvement and real estate due diligence.
Kerrigan Advisors monitors conditions in the buy/sell market and publishes an in-depth analysis each quarter in The Blue Sky Report®, which includes Kerrigan Advisors’ signature blue sky charts, multiples, and analysis for each franchise in the luxury and non-luxury segments. To download a preview of the report, click here. The firm also releases monthly The Kerrigan Index™ composed of the seven publicly traded auto retail companies with operations focused on the US market. The Kerrigan Auto Retail Index is designed to track dealership valuation trends, while also providing key insights into factors influencing auto retail. To access The Kerrigan Index™, click here. To read the 2023 Kerrigan Dealer Survey, click here. To read the 2024 Kerrigan OEM Survey, click here. Kerrigan Advisors also is the co-author of NADA’s Guide to Buying and Selling a Dealership.
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