CHARLOTTE, N.C. -

Sonic Automotive revealed revamped and extended syndicated credit facilities on Monday that allows it to tap into a pool of significantly greater funds to acquire cars, including a lift in used-vehicle inventory floor plan financing of $30 million.

Breaking it down, the maturity date of the existing facilities was pushed back from August 2012 to August 2016. The facilities now provide Sonic with the following package:

—Up to $500 million for new-vehicle inventory floor plan financing. This is up $179 million from the prior total.
—Up to $80 million for used-vehicle inventory floor plan financing, versus $50 million previously.
—Up to $175 million for working capital and general corporate purposes, compared to $150 million previously.

Official noted that the syndication was set up via BoA Merrill Lynch. That lender is also the administrative agent.

Four OEM-affiliated lenders are part of the new facilities (Mercedes-Benz Financial Services USA; BMW Financial Services NA LLC; Toyota Motor Credit Corp. and VW Credit, Inc.) as well as seven commercial banks and other lenders (Bank of America, N.A.; JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.; US Bank, National Association; Wells Fargo Bank, National Association; Comerica Bank; Capital One, N.A. and World Omni Financial Corp.)

“Most of the lenders involved in these credit arrangements have been financing partners for our company for many years. We look forward to continuing to build on those relationships while also welcoming US Bank and Capital One as new lenders to our company,” said Scott Smith, Sonic’s president.

“We believe this new credit facility provides us with a stable capital structure for the foreseeable future as we continue our focus on further reducing our nonmortgage debt, owning our real estate and maximizing the opportunities within our existing portfolio of dealerships,” he added.