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Article Excerpt
Byline: Ken MacFadyen
MD Johnson Inc. has built its name in perhaps one of the more difficult niches in M&A. The company is a boutique adviser dealing exclusively with automotive dealerships. It's probably safe to say that Mark Johnson, the boutique's founder and president, can haggle with the best of them.
While the automotive market has struggled mightily, MD Johnson Inc. has been proactive in positioning itself to deal with the unrest. The firm has transitioned into distress-oriented work in recent months, and just started a new joint venture with Colliers International focusing on commercial real estate, helping dealers get out from under their leases.
Mark Johnson, himself, is a former car salesman. As an adviser, he has overseen roughly $1 billion worth of M&A transactions. He notes that the patience he learned in automotive retail was a crucial skillset that prepared him for his current job. "It's very important because these deals take a lot of time and we're working with a lot of very different personalities."
Mergers & Acquisitions had the chance to catch up with Johnson in May, amid all of the unrest in the space caused by the successive Chrysler and General Motors bankruptcies. While the car dealership niche gets little attention in the broader M&A market, the space has some intricacies that make it truly unique, especially today. The following is an edited version of the discussion.
M&A: Given all of the unrest in the auto sector, what has been the impact to your business, dealership M&A?
Johnson: It's a different market. When business is really good, our mandates are split between buy-side and sell-side work. In a typical sale, if you're talking...
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