Sylvie Gagnon, previously a director inside the automotive finance arm of Scotiabank, has joined the buy-sell advisory agency Templeton Marsh as director of gross sales for Quebec throughout what she sees as an impending wave of dealership mergers and acquisitions within the province.
Consolidation “didn’t come as rapidly” for Quebec because it did for the remainder of Canada, Gagnon mentioned. However as new consumers enter the province and single dealerships or small teams weigh their future, she anticipates at the least 5 busy years as some teams bulk up and others exit the enterprise.
“The workforce that has three, 4, 5 [dealerships], they’re actually asking themselves: ‘We now have two choices: We improve as much as 15, or we promote.’”
Gagnon mentioned her resolution to depart Scotiabank was a troublesome one. She spent 16 years there, the latest eight as director of gross sales and market lead for Quebec with the Scotiabank seller finance centre. In that position, she oversaw groups on the retail and business sides of the enterprise, backing sellers with financing for transactions akin to dealership acquisitions and actual property purchases. She additionally constructed an in depth image of the dealership panorama in Quebec throughout annual excursions of the province within the years earlier than the pandemic. Earlier than becoming a member of Scotiabank in 2006, Gagnon labored at Ford Credit score for about 15 years.
Although Gagnon, 55, had been planning an early retirement from the financial institution in two or three years, her intention was all the time to make use of the connections she had constructed over her greater than 30-year profession to discover a new position within the business.
The present state of the dealership market in Quebec — and a well timed name from Templeton Marsh Managing Accomplice Samir Akhavan — inspired her to speed up her plans.
“I actually imagine that [consolidation] is going on now in Quebec,” Gagnon mentioned. Ready even two years to leap into the buy-sell market would have put her behind, she mentioned.
A HELPING HAND TO EXPAND
Including Gagnon to the workforce at Toronto-based Templeton Marsh will assist the corporate “considerably broaden” its footprint within the province, Akhavan mentioned.
Jean-Luc Rousseau, who was beforehand senior principal for Quebec at Templeton Marsh, is now not with the corporate, Akhavan mentioned.
Akhavan additionally expects dealership consolidation in Canada to proceed apace, with Quebec being no exception. He pointed to the growing old seller physique and arunof14orso“superb years” because the 2008 monetary disaster as two key causes that many sellers are contemplating promoting.
The following 5 years appear to be far much less of a positive factor, Akhavan mentioned.
“Adjustments within the geopolitical dynamics of the world, inflation, electrical automobiles, rates of interest, thea gency mannequin that the OEMs are , the prohibitive value of actual property — it’s simply all types of issues that are actually resulting in probably an ideal storm.”
Comparatively small Canadian dealership teams are staring down these challenges, Akhavan mentioned, and selecting between the higher stability that comes from including rooftops — or the exit.
“You’ll all the time discover a seller group that’s acquired 5 – 6 shops that’s going to purchase, after which one other one that claims: ‘Yeah, you realize what, I don’t wish to do that. I’m going to promote.’ ”
Gagnon will focus practically completely on enterprise growth as a part of the Templeton Marsh workforce, Akhavan mentioned.