Julie Herrera, the longtime auto retail veteran turned dealer and founder of IDEA Auto Group, has sold her three Texas dealerships, including a top-performing Toyota dealership, in separate transactions, according to Ivy List Mergers & Acquisitions, which facilitated the deals.
Driving the news: Ivy managing partner Ronald Parker Bowie told CDG News that both transactions closed February 3. Herrera did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.
Ben Keating of Keating Auto Group purchased Cedar Park Toyota and City Limits Subaru, both in Austin, Texas. Bowie said the Toyota store ranks in the top five in the country based on sales volume and net profit.
“It was very important for whoever bought the store to take care of Julie's people, her employees,” Bowie said. “That’s why she decided to sell to Ben Keating, because she knew that he would take care of her employees.”
Herrera owned both dealerships with the Cavender Auto Family.
On top of that: Automotive dealers Chris Crain, of the Crain Automotive Team, and Chip Johnson, of Wood Motor Company, partnered to buy City Limits Nissan, also in Austin.
The purchase marks the first bought together by the duo, Bowie said, and lands them squarely in the burgeoning market.
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Nuts and bolts: Bowie said to his knowledge, the store names will remain the same.
He said he couldn’t speak to why Herrera sold the stores, but that she planned to open a Honda store in Prosper, Texas, an open-point that the manufacturer awarded to her.
Both deals were discreet. “It was off-market,” Bowie said. “Very discreet. No one knew about it.”
Big picture: Austin sits at the intersection of Texas’ pro‑dealer fundamentals and one of the fastest‑growing, highest‑income metros in the country, giving buyers confidence they can underwrite big blue sky and still grow into it over time.
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