Don’t be surprised if some of the stores along “car row” in your market undergo a major ownership change some time before the end of the year.
According to the latest Blue Sky Report released this week, Kerrigan Advisors is expecting 2018 to be an active year for dealership buy/sells with an increasing number of buyers and sellers coming to market with the volume of transactions increasing as the calendar turns.
The report identified three key trends shaping 2018 and into 2019, including:
“Kerrigan Advisors sees movement toward increased consolidation in auto retail, as well as continued increase in capital investment from outside the industry. Buyers are excited by the long-term opportunity and healthy pace of the current market, and see it as a chance to increase investment,” said Erin Kerrigan, managing director of Kerrigan Advisors.
“At the same time, we expect this shift toward economies of scale, coupled by current high values, to entice smaller dealership groups to sell as part of their estate planning,” Kerrigan continued.
In the report — which can be downloaded here — Kerrigan Advisors went into more detail about why and how outside capital is working its way into the franchised dealer space. The firm believes that the trend began to surface noticeably when Warren Buffet and Berkshire Hathaway acquired the Van Tuyl Group in 2015.
Firm experts said, “a growing pool of professionally managed and invested capital is looking to follow Buffet’s lead and invest in auto retail. The Buffet acquisition not only served as an endorsement of auto retail, it also showed many that such an investment could be done.
“Previously, acquiring and investing in auto dealerships seemed nearly impossible for outside capital,” the firm continued in its report. “Auto retail had a perceived impenetrable barrier to entry. The challenge for most of these private investors is how to invest and with whom.
“Traditionally, auto dealers were disinterested in bringing on equity partners, believing a partnership would overly limit their control of their business. The negatives simply outweighed the positives,” the firm went on to say. “However, as growth through acquisition has increasingly become an imperative to future success, a rising number of dealers are seeking capital partners to fund their acquisition plans.”
With those trends forming a backdrop, Kerrigan Advisors highlighted that during the first quarter the auto dealership buy/sell market continued its high level of activity, fueled by a healthy economy and an increased pool of sellers reacting to auto retail’s future.
Fresh investment and capital from new players, including international buyers, kept the Q1 pace at a high level — though down from last year’s peak, according to The Blue Sky Report.
Kerrigan Advisors explained the continued steady pace of a 17 million SAAR, compounded by pressure on dealership profits and emerging changes to the dealership business model, have essentially defined the market into two camps, which include:
Among the most noteworthy transactions underscoring this trend is AutoCanada’s acquisition of Kerrigan Advisors’ client Grossinger Automotive Group. Kerrigan pointed out the Grossinger transaction was the largest transaction ever made in auto retail by a non-U.S. company.
“As with 2017, we’re continuing to see the economic benefits of consolidation, and how that’s attracting new buyers to auto retail,” Erin Kerrigan said. “There is also a rising interest by many dealers in selling. In particular, smaller dealership groups, who are struggling to maximize profit through economies of scale, are concerned about the viability of their family business for future generations.
“These dealers would rather sell now when values are high then risk the unknown,” she added.
Kerrigan Advisors acknowledged this cautious approach to unknown factors also has changed the way buyers are approaching the market. While the past saw them base valuations on future potential earnings, today’s focus is on current performance.
“In the last decade, buyers mostly priced acquisitions based on expected pro forma earnings post-transaction,” said Ryan Kerrigan, managing director of Kerrigan Advisors. “With industry sales slowing, however, many are now unwilling to base their purchase price on what a dealership could do. They are focused on what the dealership is currently doing in terms of profit. That is what drives value today.”
Blue Sky Report data and analysis from the June quarterly report also included:
The Blue Sky Report published by Kerrigan Advisors is a quarterly report on dealership M&A activity, as well as franchise values. It includes analysis of all transaction activity for the quarter, and lays out the high, average and low blue sky multiples for each franchise in the luxury and non-luxury segments.
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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