Shareholders wave through Lithia’s £397m Pendragon takeover
US-based Lithia Motors has emerged victorious in its bid to buy the UK’s biggest car dealership, Pendragon, after a protracted battle which roped in four separate companies at its peak.
Pendragon said today that 99 per cent of voting shareholders had backed the £397m sale of its UK motor business to Lithia.
The dealer group expects the transaction to occur in the fourth quarter. It will see Pendragon change its listing to Pinewood Technologies on London’s Stock Exchange.
The vote concludes a fierce three-way bidding war for Pendragon, which had pitted Lithia against Pendragon’s former chief executive and Sweden’s Hedin Mobility.
Pendragon first agreed to sell its UK motor business to Lithia in September, in a deal valued at £250m and backed by 29 per cent of its shareholders.
But Hedin, which employs Pendragon’s former boss Trevor Finn, launched a counteroffer alongside the Michigan-headquartered Penske Automotive.
The attempt to thwart Lithia, whose bid proposed to break up the business, eventually brought in another suitor, Autonation, whose late £447m offer ignited a three-way battle for the firm.
However, both Hedin and Autonation pulled out of the race after Lithia sweetened its initial offer to £397m in October.
The sale of Pendragon’s entire UK motor and leasing business, which includes brands like Evans Halshaw and Stratstone, marks the latest in a string of corporate takeovers in the sector.
International interest in UK car dealerships has ramped up massively since COVID-19. Lithia Motors already snapped up the British luxury car dealer Jardine Motors in a £300m deal earlier in the year.
Only two other dealerships are now left in the UK — Vertu Motors and Caffyns.