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PETER Warren Automotive Group and James Frizelle’s Automotive Group yesterday confirmed their merger, forming a 15-site business with an annual turnover of more than $1.5 billion.

The move further condenses the Australian automotive market and follows a year of mergers including Queensland-based Autopact buying the Bayford Group and Coastline BMW.

The Peter Warren Automotive Group (PWG), itself part-owned by Quadrant Private Equity, in a statement yesterday said it had “agreed to invest in Queensland’s premier automotive retailing group, James Frizelle’s Automotive Group”.

“The combination brings together two of Australia’s most trusted and well established automotive retailing groups, with a combined history of over 100 years,” it said.

“The combined group will generate approximately $1.5 billion in annual revenues and will be led by Paul Warren.”

PWG was started in 1958 by Paul’s father Peter and now has nine retail sites in Sydney, Bathurst and South-East Queensland with 23 brands including Rolls-Royce, McLaren and Aston Martin. It sells about 21,000 cars a year.

Frizelles was established in 1985 and now has six sites in northern NSW and South-East Queensland. It has 11 brands and has annual sales of about 15,000 cars. Its flagship site is at Southport where it has seven brands, a used-car outlet and sophisticated service facilities.

The expansion by PWG was signalled last year by Paul Warren when he said the investment by Quadrant would enable the business to seek more acquisitions because the advantages of scale were becoming more apparent.

Brett and James Frizelle

“We are out there talking to people at the moment,” he said at the time.

Frizelle’s director and dealer principal Brett Frizelle, in a statement, said: “We are excited to be building on the legacy of James Frizelle’s Automotive Group by joining The Peter Warren Automotive Group in their next phase of growth”.

“In the past few years we have continued to invest in growth across our sites and in our relationships with leading manufacturers. Our partnership with PWG will enable the combined group to capitalise on the significant opportunities in the automotive retailing market into the future.”

Paul Warren, CEO of PWG said: “Frizelle’s is a leading automotive retailer in Queensland and has an outstanding reputation across the industry, complementing our existing brands and locations. We are excited to work with Brett, Rebecca and the management team to support the growth of the combined business into the future.”

Justin Ryan, managing partner of Quadrant Private Equity said: “Quadrant is excited to be investing in the automotive retailing industry through our partnership with PWG and Frizelle’s. PWG and Frizelle’s are two iconic Australian Automotive group brands, and we have been impressed with strong culture and focus on customers across both groups. We look forward to investing alongside our partners in the greenfield, brownfield and consolidation opportunities across the industry.”

Quadrant will fold the PWG company into a new private equity fund by August. This fund, which will be valued at about $1 billion, already has two investments.

By Neil Dowling

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