DLA Piper advises Sytner on its acquisition of 15 premium car dealerships from Rybrook

DLA Piper has advised Sytner, owned by US parent Penske Automotive Group, on the acquisition of Rybrook Investments, owners of a number of car dealerships across the UK, including BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover and Porsche franchises. As part of the acquisition, Sytner acquired 15 premium car dealerships which represents around GBP750 million in annual sales revenue. The acquisition involved a pre-sale reorganisation of the Rybrook group and several consents, including clearance from the Competition and Markets Authority, were required before the transaction could be completed.

Sytner now owns a sixth of the BMW dealerships in the UK and it is expected that, as a result of the increased revenue following the Rybrook acquisition, Sytner will likely be a GBP7.5 billion turnover business by the time the next Automotive Management 100 market research report is published.

A team from DLA Piper’s Leeds office worked on the transaction and was led by Corporate partner, John Gallon and Real Estate partner, Andrew Clarke. They were supported by senior associates, Laura Allsop, Dean Peachey and Simon Winterburn, and associates, Matthew Manwaring, Jennifer Tilston, Astrid Leonhard and Alex Potop. DLA Piper has been a long-term advisor to Sytner and the Rybrook acquisition represents the latest in a series of successful transactions by the automotive group.

John Gallon, Corporate partner at DLA Piper, commenting on the acquisition, said: “It was a complicated carve-out, and it took a long time to get to completion, but I am delighted that we helped the Penske/Sytner team to complete this transaction. Great work by the whole DLA Piper team.”