Autosports Group IPO by UBS, page-35

Autosports interest has attention on Archer Capital's Crick

While it'll take a brave and arguably lucky investor to call anything right over the next week, fund managers are pretty bullish about car dealership owner Autosports Group's initial public offering.
Barring a market meltdown, Autosports will race on to the ASX-boards next Wednesday with a $482.4 million market cap and expectations of up to 20 per cent gains on day one.
Should it get such a golden reception, you can bet other privately-owned dealership groups will be assessing ownership structures and hungry bankers would be only too happy to help with the deliberations.
And one name that has popped up a couple of times around Autosports' float is Crick Auto Group.
Australian total number of new motor vehicle sales and sales by state.
Australian total number of new motor vehicle sales and sales by state.
The Sunshine Coast-headquartered car dealership group was founded in 1995 and has 12 dealership sites. It sells more than 12,000 cars a year, focussing on Chrysler Jeep Dodges, Hondas, Hyundais, Nissans and Subarus, among others.
Crick's biggest investor is Sydney-based private equity manager Archer Capital.
Archer took a 65 per cent stake about this time last year for $200 million, according to S&P Capital IQ data. That deal slipped under the radar with neither Archer or Crick's other shareholders headed by Garry Crick and John Eastham making much of a noise about it. [Herbert Smith Freehills advised Archer, while Thomson Geer advised Crick.]
Twelve months on and the business is said to be travelling reasonably well for its new owners, who have rebadged the holding company "Autopact Pty Ltd".
While Crick's not been in the Archer stable for long, should Autosports fare as expected then surely it would lend to considering a run at the ASX-boards. It's one analysts and fund managers have their eyes on, and Archer can expect a phone call from Macquarie Capital and UBS who are leading Autosports' float and know all about the pitch to investors.
Autosports showed how quickly a car dealership roll-up can be turned into a $500 million-odd entity.
The company commenced in 2006 with the greenfield establishment of one Audi dealership in Sydney. Ten years later it has 27 facilities including new car dealerships, used car sites and collision repair centres. It expects $26 million profit next year on $1.45 billion total revenue.
Of course car dealerships groups have been happy hunting grounds for small cap investors. Despite a bad past 12-months, plenty of fundies have made money backing Automotive Holdings Group and AP Eagers.

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