EDMONTON, Alberta -

AutoCanada Inc. announced earlier this week that its plan to buy a non-voting equity interest in an Edmonton, Alberta Chevrolet dealership has been given the OK from General Motors of Canada.

This marks AutoCanada’s first investment with a GM Canada store.

The purchase will be for a 31-percent non-voting equity stake in Nicholson Chevrolet, which is located in Sherwood Park.

Per the conditions of GM’s approval, the investment will be done through a holding company together with AutoCanada chief executive officer Pat Priestner and other senior managers. Priestner will have 100 percent of the holding company’s voting shares and will be named dealer operator of Nicholson Chevrolet.

The holding company will have a 51-percent voting interest in the dealership, and the current owner of the dealership will keep a 49-percent voting interest.

AutoCanada’s independent board of directors reviewed the transaction and gave its approval. AutoCanada plans to integrate Nicholson Chevrolet’s operations into the company’s Edmonton area platform.

“This investment, AutoCanada’s first with a GM Canada dealership, represents a significant milestone for the company," stated  Priestner. "Chevrolet is a very significant brand in the Canadian automotive landscape, and we are extremely pleased that GM Canada has agreed to accept AutoCanada as part of the GM family.

"We look forward to building a strong long term relationship with GM Canada and its Canadian management team, in whom we have a great deal of confidence. We also look forward to our new partnership with the current owners of the dealership, Blaine and Todd Nicholson, whose family has owned and successfully operated the dealership for almost forty years," he continued.

"AutoCanada shall be actively seeking out additional GM acquisitions, as our Management team is very excited to be a part of the future growth and success of GM Canada", Priestner shared, adding that "in respect to any future GM dealership acquisitions outside the Sherwood Park area, we will seek to acquire a 100-percent ownership interest, in which AutoCanada would purchase an 80-percent non-voting equity interest, with myself and other senior managers purchasing a 20-percent equity interest; and I will have 100-percent voting control and be named dealer operator, in accordance with GM Canada requirements."