Marshall board surrenders to buyout barons

THE private equity-owner of We Buy Any Car has been given a green light to buy leading dealership group marshall motor Holdings for £325m.

Constellation Automotive, which is owned by TDR Capital, has won the backing of the marshall motors board for its 400p a share offer.

Constellation also owns Cinch and BCA – making it the biggest online used-car marketplace in Europe.

Its offer for marshall motors comes amid booming demand for used cars since the pandemic began as the supply of new vehicles is hit by a shortage of microchips and disruption to the supply chain.

AIm-listed marshall motors is the latest in a string of British firms to be snapped up by private equity since the start of the Covid outbreak.

Ultra Electronics, morrisons, Aggreko and the AA are among the major companies to have been targeted, while TDR Capital backed the Issa Brother’s £6.8bn takeover of Asda last year.

The company has 164 franchises covering 27 brands in England and Wales, as well as operating other sites such as body shops. It recently bought one of Britain’s largest familyowned car dealers, motorline, for £64.5m.

marshall motors is itself part of a much larger, family-owned private company, marshall, which also has property and aerospace and defence arms. marshall of Cambridge still owns 64.4pc of marshall motors. It backed Constellation’s offer last week before the board threw its weight behind the bid yesterday.

Constellation, which is led by former Stobart chairman Avril Palmer-Baunack, has said it is mindful of marshall motors’ ‘history and culture’.

The board said the offer was ‘fair and reasonable’.