LMP, Atlantic moving on after deal terminated

There's "no bad blood" between LMP Automotive Holdings Inc. and Atlantic Automotive Group after the two parties mutually agreed last week to terminate a dealership acquisition deal.

LMP, a used-vehicle retailer and vehicle subscription provider, had been poised to acquire a 70 percent stake in eight Atlantic dealerships in New York under a revised agreement.

The proposed transaction — trimmed last month following October's announcement for LMP to buy a 70 percent stake in 16 dealerships — was canceled "primarily due to contiguous dealership location matters that the parties could not overcome," LMP COO Richard Aldahan said last week in a news release.

It's the second acquisition LMP and a seller have terminated. In December, LMP and the seller of a Toyota store in Newnan, Ga., which it sought to buy a 75 percent stake in, agreed to cancel that deal.Last month, Aldahan told Automotive News the slimmed-down Atlantic agreement was made to adhere to automaker preferences that retailers not own contiguous dealerships of the same brand.

Atlantic CFO Rob Dito said there was "no bad blood" and that "both sides decided that we shouldn't go through with the deal."

Dito said his company, run by dealer John Staluppi Sr., now plans to focus on its brand and improve results in 2021.

In January, LMP said it would spend $193 million in cash and $38 million in LMP stock to finance the deal for the eight stores on Long Island, plus a vehicle storage facility. LMP had said the Atlantic acquisition was expected to generate $655 million in revenue and $15 million in net income for the company in 2021.

Aldahan said LMP's first wave of franchised dealership acquisitions — eight franchised and five used-vehicle stores in three states — would close "in the coming weeks."