Constellation Automotive Group is a used vehicle marketplace. It was founded in the United Kingdom in 1946, as Southern Counties Car Auctions, and was a publicly traded company, BCA Marketplace, when acquired and taken

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

TDR Capital TDR Capital LLP is a British private equity firm headquartered in London, England. History TDR Capital was co-founded in 2002 by Manjit Dale, Stephen Robertson, and Tudor Capital.

in November 2019. TDR rebranded it to the current name in October 2020.

History

In 1946,

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

officer

David Wickins David Allen Wickins (15 February 1920 – 28 January 2007) was an English accountant-turned-entrepreneur, best known for founding the vehicle remarketing business British Car Auctions, and saving Lotus Cars. Early life David Allen Wickins was ...

decided to sell his Riley Lynx tourer. Placing an advert in the local newspaper, he offered to sell the car to the first person who turned up at his mother's house in

Farnham Farnham is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a tributary of the ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

with £200. Arriving home late, he found a crowd of eager buyers, and so auctioned the car off for £420. Wickins then rented a farmer's field at Frimley Bridges, now under junction 4 of the M3 motorway on the A331 by Hawley Road in

Frimley Frimley is a town in the Borough of Surrey Heath, in Surrey, England. It lies approximately south-west of central London. The town is of Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Saxon origin, although it is not listed in Domesday Book of 1086. Hi ...

, Surrey, and set up his first public auction. The 14 cars sold for a total of £8,250. Wickins and one of his brothers immediately founded Southern Counties Car Auctions, which, when he left the Royal Navy soon after, he expanded across the UK by selling surplus ex-

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

and

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

vehicles for the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

. Wickins renamed the company British Car Auctions, and expanded it across Europe and the United States through acquisition. This included the purchase of the car auctions division of British conglomerate Hawley Goodall, owned by

Michael Ashcroft Michael Anthony Ashcroft, Baron Ashcroft, (born 4 March 1946) is a British-Belizean businessman, pollster and politician. He is a former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party. Ashcroft founded Michael A. Ashcroft Associates in 1972 and wa ...

, which started a lifelong friendship between them. Ashcroft, through his

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

and

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

based holdings in various banks, financed a number of Wickins' later business ventures. The company had head offices at the Frimley Bridges site, but later moved to purpose-built premises at Blackbushe Airport,

Yateley Yateley () is a town and civil parish in the English county of Hampshire. It lies in the north-eastern corner of Hart District Council area, and is approximately 33 mi (53 km) southwest of Central London. It includes the settlements of Frogmo ...

to accommodate the now-closed aviation division. It still occupies the site. Employing 160 at its head office, Wickins built the company into the largest car auction business in the world before retiring in 1990. A near- scratch golfer, through this and his long association with the Conservative Party, Wickins met and befriended

Denis Thatcher Sir Denis Thatcher, 1st Baronet, (10 May 1915 – 26 June 2003) was an English businessman and the husband of Margaret Thatcher, who served as the first female British prime minister from 1979 to 1990; thus, he became the first male prime min ...

. Wickins later agreed to sponsor

Mark Thatcher Sir Mark Thatcher, 2nd Baronet (born 15 August 1953) is an English businessman. He is the son of Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990, and Sir Denis Thatcher, 1st Baronet; his sister is Carol Thatcher. His ...

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activities in the 1980s through BCA. Denis Thatcher later served on one of Wickins' company boards, while Mark Thatcher served as chairman of

Lotus Cars Lotus Group (also known as Lotus Cars) is a British multinational automotive manufacturer of luxury sports cars and electric vehicles. Lotus Group is composed of three primary entities. Lotus Cars, a high-performance sports car company, is ba ...

and later BCA in North America, which Wickins had led from near-bankruptcy to survival. In the late 1980s,

-based Hawley Goodall undertook a

reverse takeover A reverse takeover (RTO), reverse merger, or reverse IPO is the acquisition of a public company by a private company so that the private company can bypass the lengthy and complex process of going public. Sometimes, conversely, the public compa ...

of ADT Security Services, and renamed itself ADT. Focusing on security systems, ADT sold the North American and European arms of BCA in separate deals. While the residual North American arm was broken-up and sold to trade buyers, the European arm was acquired by a consortium of some 40 private investors, including Lord Ashcroft via his Belize-based investment company, in 1995. In September 2006, the European arm was bought by the

investment banking Investment banking is an advisory-based financial service for institutional investors, corporations, governments, and similar clients. Traditionally associated with corporate finance, such a bank might assist in raising financial capital by und ...

arm of private bank Samuel Montagu & Co., a division of

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

. In February 2010, BCA was acquired by the

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

investment firm

Clayton, Dubilier & Rice Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, LLC (CD&R) is an American private equity company. CD&R is the 24th oldest private equity firm in the world. CD&R has managed the investment of more than $30 billion in approximately 90 businesses, representing a bro ...

. In March 2015 Haversham Holdings, an investment business, undertook a reverse takeover of BCA and renamed itself BCA Marketplace. In July 2019, the company launched ''cinch'', an online used-car marketplace aimed at the consumer market. The ''cinch'' marketplace has been the major sponsor of the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

, Scotland's top

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

-division, since the 2021-2022 season, also acquiring

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...

. The company was acquired by

TDR Capital TDR Capital LLP is a British private equity firm headquartered in London, England. History TDR Capital was co-founded in 2002 by Manjit Dale, Stephen Robertson, and Tudor Capital.

in November 2019, and was renamed Constellation Automotive Group in October 2020. In December 2021, details of the £323 million purchase of the Marshall Motor Group were announced, although completion was delayed until May 2022 due to a regulatory review by

Financial Conduct Authority The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom. It operates independently of the UK Government and is financed by charging fees to members of the financial services industry. The FCA regulates financi ...

. Following

Cazoo Cazoo is a British automotive online marketplace and classified advertising business based in Richmond, London, Richmond, London. Cazoo is currently owned by MOTORS, following its acquisition from Cazoo Holdings Limited by O3 Industries and Novum ...

's May 2024 collapse, Constellation acquired some Cazoo assets.

Operations

The company operates the largest vehicle auction site in Europe and auctions over 50% of all cars sold by auction in the UK.

References

External links

* {{Automotive industry in the United Kingdom Auto dealerships of the United Kingdom British companies established in 1946 Retail companies established in 1946 HSBC acquisitions Privately held companies of the United Kingdom 1946 establishments in England