HOUSTON -

Group 1 Automotive announced this week it amended and restructured its $235 million, five-year revolving mortgage facility.

Executives explained the amended facility is a $42.6-million, five-year, variable-rate, term loan, financing specific dealership properties with Bank of America N.A. and Comerica Bank. They said the facility may be expanded to $75.0 million in total availability.

In addition to the mortgage facility, Group 1 noted that it also recently entered into separate term loans, totaling approximately $146.0 million with three of its manufacturer-affiliated finance partners. These partners include Toyota Motor Credit Corp., Mercedes-Benz Financial and BMW Financial Services.

The company pointed out these term loans may be expanded. They relate to specific buildings and/or properties and have five-to-seven year terms at fixed rates that are determined at the time of signing.

“We are very pleased with the restructured mortgage arrangements we have entered into with our financial partners,” stated John Rickel, Group 1’s senior vice president and chief financial officer.

“These agreements will allow us the flexibility to manage our real-estate portfolio with favorable terms as we continue to grow the company,” Rickel added.

As of Sept. 30, Group 1 and its subsidiaries owned $359.4 million in land, buildings and improvements. The company anticipates acquiring additional real estate in conjunction with its dealership acquisitions, expansion of its existing holdings and the selective exercise of lease buyout options.

Before these recent developments, Group 1 also announced that interest-rate swap contracts totaling $250.0 million with an average interest rate of 4.83 percent expired on Dec. 15. As of Dec. 31, officials determined there was $300.0 million remaining under outstanding contracts with an average interest rate of 4.6 percent. They said these interest-rate swap contracts will expire between August of this year and November 2012.

Furthermore, Group 1 noted that the net effect of the expired interest-rate swap contracts and the restructured mortgage agreements will result in lower pretax interest expense of approximately $3.8 million this year.