Irvine, Calif. – Kerrigan Advisors, in the wake of the global economic shock caused by the new coronavirus (COVID-19), has added confidential financial restructuring and turnaround services for auto dealerships to its consulting practice.  The Kerrigan Advisors team’s deep experience helping businesses with successful restructuring, honed during the Great Recession, and their continued focus on assisting dealers in major strategic decisions, offers dealers a unique resource as they manage through this challenging period.

Auto retailers are going to face some serious headwinds in the coming months.

“Nearly 20% of auto dealerships closed their doors as a result of the Great Recession of 2008[1] with devastating impacts on local economies.  Without serious planning and action, the current crisis could precipitate more closures of US auto dealerships,” said Erin Kerrigan, Founder and Managing Director of Kerrigan Advisors.  “Kerrigan Advisors is dedicated to putting our expertise to work to help the nation’s auto dealers successfully navigate this very difficult crisis and avoid closures.”

“While the current crisis is not the result of specific economic vulnerabilities, there is no doubt the impact will be resounding – car sales were down 39% in March, and trending 55% down for the first two weeks of April, per JD Power. We know from our experience in 2008-2009 that if businesses pre-emptively take the right actions, they can survive and, ultimately, thrive after a crisis such as this,” continued Kerrigan. During the 2008 recession, Erin Kerrigan successfully led nearly a half a billion dollars’ worth of workouts on behalf of a major REIT and has the expertise to assist dealers to determine the right steps to manage through the current economic crisis. 

Kerrigan Advisors is a leading advisor to dealership groups across North America in navigating key strategic decisions.  With its expanded consulting service offering, the firm is well-positioned to assist dealers as they manage through the restructuring process with lenders, landlords and other creditors to achieve a mutually beneficial outcome.  Kerrigan Advisors provides counsel to dealers during the critical strategic planning phase of restructuring and assists with operational performance issues and turnaround requirements.  Key services include:

• Identify potential covenant defaults and review cure options

• Manage lender, creditor and landlord negotiations

• Develop go-forward business plans post-default

• Implement operational restructuring

• Develop/review cost reduction initiatives and execution milestones

• Implement cash conservation guidelines and controls

“Auto retailers are going to face some serious headwinds in the coming months. Metrics-based operations, cost control and cash flow planning will all be critical in managing through this cycle,” said Ryan Kerrigan, Managing Director of Kerrigan Advisers, whose expertise includes 5 years at McKinsey & Company advising Fortune 500 companies with strategic planning, operations and organizational issues, and profitability improvement.     

“We have built a team that is uniquely qualified to serve auto dealers at this time. Erin and I both conducted significant restructuring work in the prior cycle. Gabe Robleto has worked through countless negotiations and restructuring of real estate contracts. Mercedes Hendricks has advised many dealers through cash flow planning, and Wayne Meyer is an accomplished auto retail executive with significant operational turnaround experience at the dealership level. Collectively, the expertise of the Kerrigan Advisors team has proven invaluable in helping auto dealerships survive through financial hardship,” continued Kerrigan.

Kerrigan Advisors’ suite of consulting services also includes growth strategies, capital allocation, transactional due diligence, return on investment analysis, open point proposals, valuation, operational improvement and real estate advisory.  In addition, Kerrigan Advisors is well known as one of the top sell-side advisors in the auto retail industry.