Howes Percival in driving seat for US car group acquisition

No figures have been disclosed for the deal which saw outlets in Bishop's Stortford, Hemel Hempstead, Hertford, and Stevenage bought from L&L Automotive.

The deal follows a series of high-profile transactions from the Automotive team, including acting for dealership groups Steven Eagell, Listers and FRF on their purchase of Motorline Limited's entire network of 19 Toyota and Lexus dealerships last year.

Howes Percival’s expertise in the automotive retail sector and depth of resource were again key to the success of the latest transaction.

Led by Corporate partner and head of Automotive, Tom Redman from the Milton Keynes office, the Howes Percival team included Corporate lawyers Ben Hancox, Bradley Johnson, Olivia Robinson and Shivani Sehmi.

Marcus Carter, Graham Jones and Charlotte Harrison looked after Property, while Employment Law was handled by Hannah Pryce, Sobia Ahmad and Anna Bithrey.

Commercial law was undertaken by Mayoori Ravichandran, with Zara Khan and Stephen Ruse looking after IP matters. Robert Starr (Regulatory), Bilal Ehsan (Immigration) and Simon Franklin (Construction) completed the Howes Percival team.

Redman said: “We are absolutely delighted to have acted for Group 1 Automotive on this acquisition. Once again, we were glad to be able to offer the depth of resource and specialist automotive-retail knowledge necessary to deliver a multi-site transaction as we continue to support Group 1 with the expansion of its UK operations. We wish them every success as they integrate the new dealerships into their existing portfolio."

Commercial law firm Hill Dickinson acted for the sellers and legal eagles Birketts for senior management. Freeths represented MBFS and CMS acted for Bank of East Asia.

Howes Percival has East of England offices in Cambridge, Norwich, Milton Keynes and Northampton among its UK network.