Rising Morrie’s Auto Group, which entered a brand new state late final 12 months, made its first acquisition of 2022 and bolstered its Minneapolis presence with the acquisition of a trio of home dealerships this month.

Morrie’s Auto on July 1 purchased Forest Lake Chevrolet and Forest Lake Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep & Ram in Minnesota from supplier Randy Wilcox of Forest Lake Auto Group.

The Stellantis dealership has a separate facility for the Jeep franchise, which just lately was constructed, however Morrie’s considers it one dealership. The shops had been renamed Morrie’s Forest Lake Chevrolet and Morrie’s Forest Lake Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram.

Morrie’s Auto CEO Lance Iserman mentioned the group was aggressive in making an attempt to accumulate the shops, which lie within the group’s yard.

Forest Lake is northeast of Minneapolis. Morrie’s relies in Minnetonka, Minn., simply west of Minneapolis.

“You do not get these alternatives to purchase two actually high-performing shops and within the metro the place the majority of our shops are,” Iserman advised Automotive Information. “This provides us 14 shops now within the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro space and two manufacturers that we did not have on this space.”

Haig Companions, a buy-sell agency in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., represented Wilcox within the transaction.

Morrie’s has grown by 14 dealerships since 2016, together with by including two open-point dealerships. The Forest Lake buy is Morrie’s first because it purchased two Michigan Ford dealerships in December.

Iserman mentioned Morrie’s does not have some other acquisitions underneath contract, however it’s taking a look at a number of offers.

“If we might get another underneath contract, one [dealership] or a gaggle of shops underneath contract by the top of the 12 months, that’d be nice,” he mentioned. “That will be one thing that we’d attempt to get finished.”

Iserman mentioned the group stays centered on rising within the Higher Midwest.

“That is the world that we wish to focus in,” he mentioned. “We now have clearly core markets in Minneapolis, western Wisconsin and now central Michigan. So if we will construct out these areas, we like that. We’re positively open to extra acquisitions.”

Morrie’s ranks No. 92 on Automotive Information‘ checklist of the highest 150 dealership teams based mostly within the U.S., retailing 10,858 new autos in 2021.