Sale of Earnhardt Kia and Rodeo Hyundai marks 11^th Top 150 Dealership Group Kerrigan Advisors has advised since 2015

Kerrigan Advisors represented Earnhardt Auto Centers in the sale of Earnhardt Kia in Phoenix, Arizona and Rodeo Hyundai in Surprise, Arizona to Ken Garff Automotive Group. These transactions are Ken Garff’s first dealership acquisitions in the Arizona market. A long-time fixture in the western US, Earnhardt Auto Centers was named by Automotive News as the 23^rd Largest Dealership Group in the US by 2020 new unit sales. Notably, this transaction marks the 11^th top 150 dealership group advised by Kerrigan Advisors since 2015.

The sale of Earnhardt Kia and Rodeo Hyundai are the 2^nd and 3^rd dealerships sold by Kerrigan Advisors in the Phoenix market in just the last 12 months, making the firm the most active sell-side advisor in the area today (Kerrigan Advisors sold Bell Road Toyota in October 2020 to Lithia).

“We were pleased to advise Earnhardt Auto Centers, one of the nation’s leading dealership groups, in the sale of their valuable Kia and Hyundai franchises,” said Erin Kerrigan, Founder and Managing Director of Kerrigan Advisors. “Earnhardt has built one of the strongest names in the Arizona market based on a reputation of exceptional customer and employee service, instilled by its founder Tex Earnhardt. It was important to find a buyer with the same family focus and one who would continue the Earnhardt’s legacy of caring for their customers and their employees.”

“Kerrigan Advisors identified the perfect buyer for our stores, one that appreciated the value of entering the Phoenix market with great import brands,” said Hal Earnhardt, Co-Owner of Earnhardt Auto Centers. “Kerrigan Advisors was critical to the success of this transaction. We are very pleased to know these dealerships will be run by another family-owned and operated dealership group with the same customer service focus and appreciation for employees.”

“Kerrigan Advisors was instrumental to this transaction,” concurred Brett Hopkins, Chief Executive Officer of Ken Garff Automotive Group, one of the largest family-owned dealership groups in the US. “Erin and her team do an incredible job working with their clients to make sure the sale process runs smoothly.”

“This transaction is a convergence of two important trends in the buy/sell market: overall demand for Kia/Hyundai franchises and a booming auto retail market in Arizona, where dealerships achieve some of the highest revenue per franchise in the country,” said Ryan Kerrigan, Managing Director of Kerrigan Advisors. “These two dealerships represented an exceptional opportunity for Ken Garff to enter the high growth Phoenix market with some of the fastest growing brands in the industry,” noting that Kerrigan Advisors upgraded the multiple outlooks for both brands in Q4 2020 in its quarterly Blue Sky Report.

“The car business has been in our family for generations, going all the way back to our grandfather, Tex, who moved to Chandler as a young man in 1951,” said Dodge Earnhardt. “Tex was a legend, and he built a legendary business based on ‘no bull’ business practices that we still follow to this day. We were very appreciative of the high level of client service we received from Kerrigan Advisors because they share that same straightforward, personal approach to their work on behalf of their dealer clients.”

“Tex used to say, ‘Treat everyone the way you would treat your mama!’” said Derby Earnhardt. “That’s exactly what Kerrigan Advisors did for us during a complex transaction involving two dealerships and a buyer who was new to the Phoenix market. We would recommend them to any dealer considering a sale in today’s active buy/sell market.”

Kerrigan Advisors is the most active sell-side advisor on larger transactions in the auto retail industry, achieving the highest sale price per client of any firm over the last five years. 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 valuation analysis, creating value at every stage of the auto retail lifecycle.

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 2020 Kerrigan Dealer Survey, click here. Kerrigan Advisors also is the co-author of NADA’s Guide to Buying and Selling a Dealership.

About Kerrigan Advisors

Kerrigan Advisors is a leading sell-side advisor and thought partner to auto dealers in the US. 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 on some of auto retail’s largest transactions and advised 11 Top 150 Dealership Groups in the US, more 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 publishes The Blue Sky Report®, which is the auto industry's most comprehensive and authoritative quarterly report of dealership buy/sell activity and franchise values, received by nearly 10,000 industry participants in 35 countries. To register to receive The Blue Sky Report®, click here. Kerrigan Advisors also publishes The Kerrigan Index™, the only monthly index tracking the seven publicly traded auto retail companies. To access The Kerrigan Index™, click here. To read the 2020 Kerrigan Dealer Survey, click here. Kerrigan Advisors also is the co-author of NADA’s Guide to Buying and Selling a Dealership.

Kerrigan Advisors’ Founder and Managing Director, Erin Kerrigan, is a recognized expert on dealership valuation, real estate, and buy/sells, and is a frequent speaker at leading auto retail events and conferences, including NADA, JD Power Automotive Roundtable, Automotive News’ Canadian World Congress, AICPA, and NADC. She has also been quoted numerous times by The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Bloomberg and The Economist and has been a keynote speaker for events hosted by American Honda Motor Company, Audi of America, US Trust, Bank of America, Ohio Automobile Dealer Association, and SunTrust Bank. Erin Kerrigan was named by Auto Remarketing as one of the leading women in Automotive in 2020. Kerrigan Advisors’ Managing Director Ryan Kerrigan is also a sought-after industry expert. He is featured in a monthly column for Dealer Magazine and has written Op-Eds for Automotive News.

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