BUYER POOL ANALYSIS
Selling a Auto Dealership to Private Equity / PE-Backed Roll-Up buyers
Private equity firms and PE-backed platform consolidators acquiring for roll-up, add-on, or platform plays. Pricing tends to lead the market for fee-viable scale, with multi-bidder competitive processes above the EBITDA floor.
Quick answers
- What multiple does this buyer pool pay?
- Median EV/EBITDA 9.65x across 14 disclosed deals (P25: 7.39x, P75: 11.67x). Median EV/Revenue 0.32x across 19 deals. Median deal value: $240M.
- How many disclosed transactions?
- 19 deals total (3 from 2018+), filtered to Private Equity / PE-Backed Roll-Up acquirers of auto dealership businesses.
- Most active buyers
- Sunoco LP (2) · BP Products North America Inc. (1) · Stellex Capital Management LLC (1) · Upstate Shredding, LLC (1) · Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP (1) · Lazydays Holdings, Inc. (:GORV) (1)
Recent disclosed deals
Private Equity / PE-Backed Roll-Up acquisitions of auto dealership businesses with named target, named acquirer, and disclosed financials.
| Year | Target | Acquirer | EV | EV/EBITDA | EV/Rev |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | TravelCenters of America Inc. | BP Products North America Inc. | $3166.0M | 5.1x | 0.29x |
| 2018 | Fenix Parts, Inc. | Stellex Capital Management LLC | $37.3M | — | 0.28x |
| 2018 | Fenix Parts, Inc. | Upstate Shredding, LLC | $38.4M | — | 0.27x |
| 2017 | Arko Holdings Ltd. | Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP | $10.4M | 12.7x | 0.34x |
| 2017 | Lazydays RV SuperCenter, Inc. | Lazydays Holdings, Inc. (:GORV) | $271.2M | 7.9x | 0.43x |
| 2016 | CST Brands, Inc. | Circle K Stores Inc. | $5606.9M | 11.3x | 0.66x |
What this buyer pool prices for
Private equity acquirers price for scale and roll-up arbitrage. They pay up for businesses that fit a platform thesis — recurring revenue mix above 30%, technician/professional depth, clean financials, and a management layer that survives integration. The same auto dealership can command 1.5x to 2x the multiple of an individual-buyer transaction simply because the PE buyer is acquiring a platform piece, not an owner-operated shop.
Methodology note
Multiples shown are computed from disclosed M&A transactions in the ExitValue.ai database, filtered to auto dealership businesses acquired by private equity / pe-backed roll-up buyers. EV/EBITDA outliers outside the [0.5x, 60x] band and EV/Revenue outliers outside [0.05x, 25x] are excluded from medians. Where available, post-2018 transactions are weighted; otherwise the all-time sample is used. Deal counts shown reflect deals with disclosed financials only — total transaction count for this buyer pool is typically 2-3x larger. Full methodology
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