Sale of Nick Alexander BMW to Car Pros Automotive Group includes MINI and Collision Center, and represents the 201st & 202nd dealership, 50th top luxury franchise sale led by Kerrigan Advisors since 2015
Kerrigan Advisors, the premier sell-side advisor and thought partner to auto dealers nationwide, represented Los Angeles-based Nick Alexander Imports in the sale of Nick Alexander BMW and Nick Alexander MINI to Renton, Washington-based Car Pros Automotive Group, the US’ 45th largest dealership group and owner of 10 dealerships, including four in Southern California. The transaction marks the 201st and 202nd dealership and 50th top luxury franchise sale since 2015.
“It's been a great pleasure to work with the Alexanders, whom we've known for years and who will be missed in the automotive retail industry,” said Ryan Kerrigan, Managing Director of Kerrigan Advisors. “We were aware that the decision to sell was understandably an emotional one for the Alexander family. With that in mind, our team worked hard to achieve a great financial outcome through a transaction that allowed the Alexanders to feel positive about the future of their business and their people. With the sale to Car Pros, the family was able to achieve that goal.”
The Alexander family has served the downtown Los Angeles market since 1978. Nick Alexander BMW is a multiple winner of BMW's "Center of Excellence" and "President's Cup” awards. Nick Alexander MINI ranks 3rd highest volume in the US by 2022 new MINI sales.
“We have owned this BMW franchise for 44 years, so the decision to sell was not an easy one. You only sell once, and we needed the best representation in the business to ensure a smooth transaction and to find a buyer who could represent the best interests of the franchise, employees and community,” said Nick Alexander, Co-owner and Operator of Nick Alexander Imports. “We’ve known Ryan and Erin Kerrigan and Kerrigan Advisors for years, and we knew that when the decision to sell came, they were the only choice to represent our family. Their proven track record of successful sales continued with this transaction.”
Nick Alexander BMW, MINI and its collision center are housed in renovated, state-of-the-art facilities serving the rapidly growing downtown Los Angeles (LA) market, which is thriving under massive real estate development. Downtown LA has become a highly desirable place to live and is home to some of the US’ largest corporations. Los Angeles is the nation’s largest car market and its economy ranks as the 2nd and 18th largest economy in the US and world, respectively.
“We have benefited from Kerrigan Advisors’ guidance throughout the sale process, from start to finish. Our transaction was a unique one in multiple ways, including our location, large parcels of highly valuable real estate, and BMW operations intertwined with MINI to name a few,” said Elizabeth Alexander, Co-owner of Nick Alexander Imports. “The Kerrigan team was able to work through those complexities and ultimately identify a buyer who understood our operations, and valued our unique business and the opportunities it presented.”
Los Angeles is the top luxury car market in the US and BMW is an industry leader among volume luxury brands: it has the second highest sales per franchise of all luxury brands and is one of the top luxury brands in Southern California. According to Kerrigan Advisors Q1 2023 Blue Sky Report®, the luxury import segment outperformed the domestic and non-luxury import segments by 85% and 202%, respectively, based on first quarter 2023 US light vehicle sales and appears to be somewhat insulated from rising interest rates, strengthening the segment’s valuations.
“We were honored to work with Nick, Elizabeth and their team in the sale of one of the automotive industry’s premier luxury brands in a top luxury market,” said Erin Kerrigan, Founder and Managing Director of Kerrigan Advisors. “The success of this transaction is more evidence that, with strong constantly high profitability and unit sales growth, luxury franchises continue to command elevated valuations, giving further ballast to the robust 2023 auto dealership buy/sell market.”
Kerrigan Advisors is the most active sell-side advisor on larger transactions in the auto retail industry. The firm attributes its success to its team’s laser focus on fulfilling each client’s personal and professional goals. In addition to its sell-side advisory work, the firm offers strategic consulting services to dealers and their families, including growth planning, capital raising, and acquisition valuation analysis, creating value for their clients at every stage of the auto retail lifecycle.
David Meyer, Hen Amir and Gus Paras of ArentFox Schiff served as legal counsel to the seller. Halbert Rasmussen and One Choi served as legal counsel to the buyer.
About Kerrigan Advisors
Kerrigan Advisors is the premier sell-side advisor and thought partner to auto dealers nationwide. 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. Kerrigan Advisors has represented some of auto retail’s largest transactions and advised more of the largest dealership groups in the US than any other buy/sell firm in the industry. Led by a team of veteran industry experts with backgrounds in investment banking, private equity, accounting, finance and real estate, the firm does not take listings, rather they develop a customized approach for each client to achieve their personal and financial goals. In addition to Kerrigan Advisors’ sell-side advisory and capital raising services, the firm also provides a suite of consulting 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 2022 Kerrigan Dealer Survey, click here. Kerrigan Advisors also is the co-author of NADA’s Guide to Buying and Selling a Dealership.
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Contacts
Kerrigan Advisors Media Contact:
Melanie Webber (melanie@mwebbcom.com), mWEBB Communications, 949-307-1723