Canada is growing in importance as an automotive market. Sure, it is small compared to the U.S. with some 1.9 million light vehicles sold in 2015, up 1.4 percent compared to the previous year.
Dealerships in Canada are thriving, however. Their 2015 revenue topped C$ 100 billion, or US $72 billion, up six percent compared to 2014, according to the Canada Automobile Dealers Association.
Companies down here are taking notice. Capital Automotive Real Estate Services Inc., CARS as it is usually known, owns one property in Canada and is looking to grow in that market. It faces competition, though. Canada’s largest dealership group, Dilawri, has its own dealership REIT and a ready-made client base, its own dealerships.
In this issue I write about CARS’ moves in Canada and its plan to expand into other international markets. CARS is also looking for new real estate sale/leaseback business in industries similar to the auto dealership real estate business, such as RV dealers. If that strategy works for CARS it might be worth looking into for other buy/sell professionals.
Also in this issue, we all know how hard it can be for two corporate cultures to merge after an acquisition. Daimler and Chrysler comes to mind, but even smaller deals, such as acquiring a dealership, can come with a lot of problems. In this issue, Dan Schneider of Rawls Group discusses how to alleviate tensions associated with bringing in a new dealership.
And of course we have Transaction News.
Enjoy!
