Greenhous Group acquires William A Lewis Cars

8th July 2013

Corporate Finance advisors and dealmakers from Yorkshire have acted for Greenhous Group, the £600m turnover Shropshire based distributor and retailer of cars and commercial vehicles, on their acquisition of major independent motor group William A Lewis Cars.

William A Lewis operates five franchises, including Volvo and Nissan, from sites in Shrewsbury and Telford. It is a longstanding business which can trace its roots back to 1945 and has been owned and run successfully as a family business by the Lewis and Marshall families for over 55 years. The group's turnover is approximately £40m and it employs 160 staff. The acquisition adds critical mass to Greenhous' franchised operations in the Shropshire area as well as opening up new fleet vehicle opportunities. Greenhous worked closely throughout the process with GMaC who provided financing for the acquisition. BHP Corporate Finance provided deal structuring and due diligence advisory services, alongside Schofield Sweeney who provided legal advice. Baker Tilly provided transaction tax advice. Andy Haigh, Assistant Director at BHP Corporate Finance, commented -We are very pleased to have worked with the directors of Greenhous Group in assisting them to complete this significant acquisition. There is a strong strategic rationale for this deal and I am certain that the business will go from strength to strength under the ownership of Greenhous. Martin Sweeney, Partner at Schofield Sweeney, commented -having acted for Greenhous for a number of years, we are pleased to have brought this transaction to a successful conclusion for them. Steve Brown, Tax Partner at Baker Tilly said -We have enjoyed working with the management team at Greenhous and dealing with the tax issues of the business acquisition. We wish the Greenhous team well with the future development of the business.