Lookers buys Benfield Motor Group for £87.5m

MANCHESTER car dealership Lookers has acquired Addison Motors Limited, trading as Benfield Motor Group, for £87.5m.

The acquisition is being funded by new banking facilities from Bank of Ireland, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Yorkshire Bank and The Royal Bank of Scotland.

Newcastle-based Benfield is one of the UK’s largest private motor retailing companies, with 1,600 employees working in 30 dealerships across the North East, Yorkshire, Cumbria and South West Scotland.

Its franchises include Audi, VW, VW Commercial Vehicles, Skoda, Ford, Toyota, Lexus, Hyundai, Kia, Renault, Dacia, Nissan and Honda and the company offers sales, service, parts and bodyshop facilities for new and used cars and commercial vehicles.

The company had a turnover of close to £700m, with pre-tax profits of £7m, for the year to the end of December 2014. It had gross assets of £154.6m and net assets of £55m.

Lookers said the acquisition would be immediately earnings enhancing for the group.

Andy Bruce, Lookers chief executive, said: “We are delighted to have acquired this respected and long established family business. A key attraction for us is the cultural fit. Both Lookers and Benfield share an approach which puts employees and customers at the heart of our business and this acquisition will ensure that continues.

“We are committed to preserving and nurturing this culture as well as putting in place new initiatives which allows Benfield to benefit from our larger scale and leverage the investments we have made.

“The acquisition also strengthens our relationship with a number of our key manufacturer partners and gives us a truly national footprint by adding to our presence in the North East of the UK.

“I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all of the employees of Benfield to the wider Lookers family.”

Simon Masters and Nicola Brookes of law firm Eversheds advised Lookers, assisted by Laura Evans and with support from Nigel Dale and Katie Macadam from the banking team.

Masters said: “It has been a pleasure to work with the Lookers team on this important acquisition for the group. We wish them every success as they continue to prosper and expand their operations.”

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