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IN a $9 million deal, Fortitude Valley car dealers A.P. Eagers Ltd (ASX: APE) has bought two new Adelaide dealerships to add to its $341 million real estate portfolio.
The newly acquired dealerships, Main North Nissan and Renault, and Unley Nissan and Renault, are located on the main arterial roads to Adelaide city and have an annual turnover of $92 million.
“We’re excited that we’re able to find a business that’s going to fit in really well with our existing businesses in Adelaide,” says A. P. Eagers general counsel and company secretary, Denis Stark.
A.P. Eagers sells eight car brands in the South Australia region and operates strategically clustered dealerships, 65% of which are situated on properties owned by A.P Eagers, with the balance leased.
The dealerships were bought from the Bamford family, who launched in 1987 and now employ 112 staff and sell 2,300 cars annually.
“It is a successful, well run business that has been operating for long term and its operators are professional and well regarded in the industry,” Stark says.
The APE share price dropped 0.5 per cent to $4.01 per unit in early trading, following yesterday afternoon’s announcement (on July 3, 2013).
A.P. Eagers adds the dealerships to operations in south-east Queensland, Adelaide, Darwin, Melbourne, Sydney and the Newcastle/Hunter Valley region of New South Wales.
With 4,600 shareholders A.P. Eagers has a sales revenue running at $2.6 billion per annum, paying a dividend every year since listing in 1957.
The company was founded in 1913 by Edward Eager and his son and continues today as a wholly-owned subsidiary.
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