Many folks love to vacation either in south Florida or Las Vegas.

Lithia & Driveway are looking to retail more vehicles to potential buyers who might reside in those locations.

The company announced on Tuesday it has expanded its south Florida footprint with the purchase of nine Lehman Auto World stores and two Esserman International stores in Miami-Dade County.

Together, these 11 stores are projected to generate $850 million in annualized revenue, according to a company news release.

According to a news release from Haig Partners, which served as the exclusive sell-side advisor, Lehman Auto World consists of:

—Largo Honda
—Doral Hyundai
—Doral Kia
—Doral Genesis
—Lehman Subaru
—Lehman Hyundai
—Lehman Buick-GMC
—Lehman Genesis
—Lehman Mitsubishi

As a part of this transaction, Lithia also acquired Esserman International which consists of Esserman Acura and Esserman VW in Doral, Fla.

LAD also announced its expansion in Las Vegas with the addition of Henderson Hyundai and Genesis. With this purchase, LAD said it becomes the sole owner of the Hyundai and Genesis stores in the greater metro area.

This is LAD’s eighth Las Vegas metro store purchase in the past year and adds a projected $100 million in annualized revenue.

“We are thrilled to welcome these teams to our Lithia & Driveway family,” Lithia & Driveway president and chief executive officer Bryan DeBoer said in the news release. “The Lehman family has deep roots in south Florida, serving the community for over 86 years. Under its leadership, the stores have achieved a reputation for earning lifelong customers with their impeccable level of service.”

The company explained the additions of Lehman Auto World, Esserman International, and Henderson Hyundai and Genesis bring LAD’s total expected annualized revenue acquired in 2022 to over $2.1 billion.

The company added that it is pacing to exceed its 2025 plan to reach $50 billion in revenue and more than $55 in EPS.

Lithia & Driveway mentioned these acquisitions were financed using existing on-balance sheet capacity.

William “Bill” Lehman, Jr., the principal owner, explained his rationale for the sale through the Haig news release.

“On a personal level, I asked my wife, when do I retire?  When do I smell the roses? I’ve had one job my whole career running these dealerships. I’ve had a great run. I’m 81 and I think it’s time. From a corporate perspective, there is continued consolidation in the automotive retail space, so when Lithia expressed interest in starting initial conversations with us, I felt that this was not only the right time but the right company,” Lehman said.

“I thank Alan Haig and the team at Haig Partners for introducing us to Lithia and advising us on the sale process. This was a complicated transaction and they were integral to helping it to come off smoothly. Jonathan Awner at Akerman LLP was also impressive in his ability to negotiate the legal agreements and close a large transaction like this,” Lehman continued.

Alan Haig, president of Haig Partners which represented the seller, added these perspectives.

“We congratulate Bill Lehman, Jr. on the sale of his dealerships to Lithia Motors. He built Lehman Auto World into one of the largest groups in the state. They operate high volume stores, including Hyundai in Doral which consistently ranks as a Top 5 dealership in terms of sales,” Haig said.

“Also, we tip our hats to Bryan DeBoer and the Lithia team with this significant investment in one of the most desirable auto retail markets anywhere in the world. South Florida is growing rapidly and we believe Lithia will do very well with these eleven dealerships. Welcome to South Florida! This transaction demonstrates that buyers remain confident about the future profitability of auto dealerships and want to continue to grow,” Haig went on to say.

Share repurchase activity

Lithia & Driveway offered an update on another part of its business operation.

To date in the second quarter, the company has repurchased approximately 1.9 million shares or approximately 6.5% of shares outstanding at a weighted average price of $284.

To date in 2022, Lithia & Driveway have repurchased approximately 2.1 million shares at a weighted average price of $285.

Under the current share repurchase authorization, approximately $116 million remains available.

“With our strong balance sheet and continued significant free-cash flows, we continue to successfully execute on our revenue 2025 plan, while still opportunistically repurchasing a meaningful amount of shares, providing immediate shareholder return,” DeBoer said in the same news release.