Thomson Snell & Passmore advises Motorline Group on sale to Marshall Motor

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TBM Team

South East law firm Thomson Snell & Passmore has advised Motorline Group on its sale to Marshall Motor Holdings in a transaction that involved the acquisition of the entire share capital of Motorline for £64.5 million. Marshall has also separately acquired a related freehold property for £2.9m and has the option to acquire two additional strategic freehold properties in the future for £24.9m.

Founded in 1972, Motorline is a leading multi franchise dealer group currently headquartered in Canterbury and operating across Kent, West Sussex, Surrey, Berkshire, Bristol, South Wales, and the West Midlands. It represents nine brands through 48 operating franchises including Toyota, Lexus, Hyundai, Volkswagen, Audi, ŠKODA, Nissan, Peugeot, and Maserati. In addition, it operates four Volkswagen Group Trade Parts Specialist (TPS) businesses and five used car centres.

Motorline’s consolidated revenues for the year ending 31 December 2020 were £695.2m with profit before tax of £6.1m. Motorline’s consolidated shareholder funds at completion are c. £30m.

Joanne Gallagher, Partner and Head of the Corporate team at Thomson Snell & Passmore, and her colleague Joanne Wright, a Partner in the Commercial Property team, jointly led on the sale for Motorline.

Commenting on the acquisition of Motorline, Daksh Gupta, Group Chief Executive, said: "The acquisition has been funded from existing cash resources and is expected to generate attractive financial returns for our Group.

“We are delighted to begin new and significant partnerships with Toyota/Lexus and Hyundai. These brands, with a combined market share in the UK of over 11%, have been a target for the Group for some time and the acquisition of Motorline provides immediate scale with each of them."

TBM Team