Lithia closes $650 million five-year revolver via U.S. Bank, JPMorgan

By Susanna Moon

Chicago, April 19 - Lithia Motors, Inc. said it obtained a $650 million five-year revolving syndicated credit facility with 10 lenders. The revolver can be expanded to $800 million.

U.S. Bank and JPMorgan Chase are the bookrunners for the syndication, and U.S. Bank is the administrative agent.

The revolving facility will provide $500 million for new vehicle inventory floorplan financing, $100 million for used vehicle inventory floorplan financing and $50 million for general corporate purposes, including working capital and acquisitions, according to a company press release.

Lenders include four manufacturer-affiliated finance companies: Mercedes-Benz Financial Services USA LLC, Toyota Motor Credit Corp., BMW Financial Services NA, LLC and Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp. The commercial banks are U.S. Bank, NA, JPMorgan Chase Bank, NA, Bank of America, NA, Wells Fargo Bank, NA, Bank of the West and Key Bank NA.

Under the terms of the new agreement, Lithia said that interest expense will be reduced by about $430,000 per quarter, based on current borrowing levels pretax.

The credit agreement will expire in April 2017.

Lithia is an automotive retailer based in Medford, Ore.

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