This month Gordie Gerbrandt, Vice President of Canada for the Tim Lamb Group — a large dealership sales and acquisitions firm in North America — brokered the sale of Forest City Mazda to Leavens Automotive Group, which changed the name to Leavens Forest City Mazda.
The newly renamed dealership is located at 652 Wharncliffe Road S., in London, Ont. Gerbrandt, who brokered the deal, had worked with both the seller, Mark Loeppky (Owner of FFun Automotive Group) and the buyer, Chris Leavens (Owner of Leavens Automotive Group) on previous deals. He was able to help organize and facilitate the sale and make it mutually beneficial for both parties.
“The sale of Forest City Mazda allows FFun Automotive Group the ability to keep the locations of their 24 remaining stores centralized to Western Canada and offer Leavens Automotive Group the ability to expand their stores, keeping with automotive brands their staff are knowledgeable about, in London, Canada,” said the firm in a news release.
In a statement, Gerbrandt called it “a perfect fit pairing”: Leavens wanted to expand his dealership offerings in London, Ont., and Loeppky wanted to involve someone focused on the same community outreach efforts. That’s because Saskatoon-based FFun Automotive Group places an emphasis on giving back in the communities they surround.
The dealer group has a diverse collection of automotive, recreational, financial, and real estate divisions across the country, and so they strive for excellence — but serving others outside of vehicle sales remains important to Loeppky. As for Leavens Automotive Group, they are headquartered in London and have other stores in the area (including in Chatham and Windsor).
“Gordie found us an opportunity no one else could in our local market,” said Leavens in a statement. “He was attentive to our position and assisted throughout the process.”
