The Presidio Group buys dealership franchise with Sewell BNW

654

The Presidio Group LLC (“Presidio”), an independent merchant banking firm focused on mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, and investments in the automotive retail and consumer mobility sectors, exclusively advised Carl Sewell and his family on the historic acquisition of Classic BMW. The transaction included a BMW dealership franchise and a MINI dealership franchise at the same location in Plano, Texas.

Since the opening of our first BMW store in Grapevine, Texas in 2017, we have been honored to be a BMW dealer,” said Carl Sewell III, president of Sewell Automotive Companies. “With the help of Brodie Cobb, George Karolis, and their incredible team at The Presidio Group, we are thrilled to add Classic BMW, one of the finest BMW dealerships in the country, to our group. We are also grateful to Eric Maas and the Maas family for this opportunity.”

“Our family has focused our expansion on the highest quality businesses, and Classic BMW is at the top of that list,” said Jacquelin Sewell, president of Sewell Automotive Companies. “We welcome Classic BMW and MINI to the Sewell family and look forward to continuing the dealership’s 50-year legacy of outstanding service to the Plano community and the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area.”

Classic BMW was founded in 1971 by Lee Maas, who worked as a manager at local Cadillac and Chevrolet stores. Classic BMW began in a 3,000-square-foot building, where Mr. Maas employed his family to help in all aspects of their burgeoning business. Fifty years later, Classic BMW has grown to be the largest BMW dealership by footprint in the U.S. with a 160,000-sf building on 24 acres in Plano, Texas.

“This dealership is a testament to my family’s passion for cars and customers,” said Eric Maas, president of Classic BMW and director of racing operations at Fast Track Racing LLC. “My family wouldn’t consider selling unless we were assured that our legacy of caring for our customers and employees would be continued at the same high standard. The Presidio Group understood that when they approached me about selling to the Sewell family, who literally wrote the book on customer service. We are certain that the Sewell Family will carry on our tradition of treating each customer in the showroom and service drive as if they are part of our own family.”

“Presidio was privileged to work with the Sewell family in helping them strategically grow their portfolio of high-performing luxury dealership franchises in Texas,” said Brodie Cobb, founder and CEO of The Presidio Group. “Rarely in the M&A world do we find parties to a transaction that align philosophically more than the Sewell and Maas families. We were privileged to work so closely with both on this historic Dallas transaction.”

“Classic BMW is the perfect complement to Sewell’s extraordinarily successful Grapevine BMW dealership,” said George Karolis, president of The Presidio Group. “The Texas market is one of the most active in the country in what is a very healthy dealership acquisition environment across the country.”

Sewell’s General Counsel, Jeff Hamilton, served as legal counsel to the buyer. Winston & Strawn LLP served as legal counsel to the seller.

The Presidio Group provided exclusive M&A advisory services to Sewell through its wholly owned investment bank, Presidio Merchant Partners LLC.

Source