Kelowna, British Columbia — Lift Auto Group is pleased to announce it has raised an additional growth capital in support of expansion and new acquisition strategy for the foreseeable future.
Lift Auto, a consolidator of Canadian collision repair centres, currently has 12 collision centres across British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan–11 of which are CSN Collision Centre locations. Bolstered by the recent capital raise, Lift Auto will execute on its strategy to expand its footprint across the rest of Canada.
PFM Capital Inc., on behalf of the APEX II Investment Fund Limited Partnership, Completed the strategic investment in Lift Auto, with the Canadian Business Growth Fund, a current investor, participating on a follow-on basis in continued support of Lift Auto.
Financial terms were not disclosed. APEX III Investment Fund is a $94 million 2018-vintage private equity fund.
“We’re excited to play a key role in assisting Canadian owner/operators to transition their businesses, ensuring they retain their leadership position in the communities they serve,” said Mark Reineking, Lift Auto president, and CEO.
As a result of Lift Auto’s management team, the company has developed a sophisticated operating approach to an increasingly complex industry. The new approach creates a unique opportunity for well-capitalized and well-managed consolidators like Lift Auto to acquire, and integrate, smaller operators thereby adding the scale to properly address industry demands, according to Reineking.
“PFM is excited to partner with Lift as the company continues to execute on its growth strategy” commented Jardin Schnurr, director of investments at PFM Capital Inc. “We believe that the ambitious management team at Lift have solid processes in place and an experienced acquisition team allowing them to continue to achieve their vision of becoming a leading player in a highly fragmented industry.”
Despite the pandemic and the economic challenges it brought along, market-leading companies like Lift Auto and CSN have been committed to executing their respective business plans.
“Our partnership with Lift will continue to benefit both organizations as they contribute to the growth of our network,” commented Ryan Bruno, CSN Collision Centres president & CEO. “We have a number of solutions in place to accomplish the objective of providing an option to collision centre owners who are looking to sell their business.”
Lift Auto has added two new locations to its portfolio since December 1st, according to with several additional acquisitions being scheduled for 2021, said Reineking.
ATB Capital and Raymond James jointly marketed the opportunity and acted as Lift’s advisors in the growth capital case.
“Along with CSN Collision Centres and our capital partners, Lift Auto is ideally positioned to embark on the next phase of our growth and realize our vision of being the leading collision repair consolidator and operator across Canada,” said Reineking.
