UPDATED March. 12th, 3:35 p.m.: Auto titan Edward “Teddy” Morse III just scored $114.3 million in financing for 10 of his dealerships in Florida.
Midvale, Utah-based Ally Bank is the lender, according to property records. The bank assumed a $95 million mortgage from Bank of America in 2015 and increased the loan to $114.3 million. It covers dealerships in Brandon, Tampa, Lakeland, Port Richey, Delray Beach, Riviera Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Sunrise and Lake Park.
“The timing was right, with rates on the rise, to lock in a fixed rate,” Teddy Morse, Chairman and CEO of Ed Morse Automotive Group said via email. He added the company is planning to expand.
After his father’s death in 2016, Morse took over his family’s dealership company, founded by his grandfather in 1963. In 2016, the company recorded $1.3 billion in sales, making it one of the largest car dealers based on sales volume.
In January, Terry Taylor, head of Daytona Beach-based Automotive Management Services, picked up a dealership in Royal Palm Beach for $44.7 million. A month before, Orlando-based Greenway Automotive Group, paid $6.2 million for a warehouse near Deerfield Beach.