MEDFORD, Ore. -

Lithia Motors shored up its floor plan resources on Thursday as the dealer group completed a new $650 million, five-year revolving syndicated credit facility with 10 institutions.. 

The group noted that the facility — which will expire in April 2017 — can be expanded to $800 million in total availability.

Executives highlighted that the revolving facility will provide $500 million for new-vehicle inventory floor plan financing, $100 million for used-vehicle inventory floor plan financing and $50 million for general corporate purposes including working capital and acquisitions.

Lenders in the syndicated facility include four manufacturer-affiliated finance companies:

—Mercedes-Benz Financial Services USA
—Toyota Motor Credit Corp.
—BMW Financial Services
—Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp.

There are also six commercial banks, including:

—US Bank
—JPMorgan Chase Bank
—Bank of America
—Wells Fargo Bank
—Bank of the West
—Key Bank

Lithia pointed out US Bank and JPMorgan Chase were joint bookrunners for the syndication, and US Bank serves as administrative agent to the facility.

Under the terms of the new agreement, Lithia senior vice president and chief financial officer Chris Holzshu calculated that based on current borrowing levels, pretax interest expense will be reduced by approximately $430,000 per quarter.

“The Lithia team would like to thank all of the participants for their support in completing the syndication,” Holzshu stated.

“The new revolving facility expands our existing partnership with these banks and manufacturer-affiliated finance companies and is a testament to our deep and meaningful relationship with them,” he concluded.