NEW YORK, NY–(Marketwired – Sep 22, 2016) – Capital Automotive Financial (CAF) announced today that it has launched a new company to provide long-term equity capital solutions to leading dealers, chief operating officers and general managers in the retail automotive industry. CAF is led by automotive industry veteran Richard Kotzen and Capital Automotive Real Estate Services (CARS), anchored by an investment from Two Sigma Private Investments (TSPI).

CAF’s flexible capital base will provide its dealer partners with financing structures, either in minority or majority positions, that over time lead to full ownership of their retail dealership platforms. With its deep industry network spanning from professional advisors and service providers to leading dealers and regulators, CAF offers industry expertise and operational capabilities that will help dealers maximize profitability and growth potential.

“CAF is the one-stop-shop for equity, debt, and real estate financing solutions that dealers have been waiting for,” said Kotzen, who will be President and Chief Executive Officer of the new company. “Our deep experience, access to capital and best-in-class technology platform position us to anticipate and effectively address the evolving needs of the retail automotive industry and help our dealer partners grow.”

Kotzen was previously a partner at accounting and consulting firm Crowe Horwath LLP, where he helped lead the firm’s Retail Dealerships Group, providing financial advisory, tax, profitability enhancement, and risk management services to dealerships across North America. With more than 35 years of experience in buy/sell transaction structuring and profit enhancement consulting in the retail automotive industry, he has been a long-time advisor to clients ranging from single-point dealerships to mega dealership groups with sales ranging from $50 million to $3 billion. Kotzen has worked together with major automotive groups to design their acquisition policies and implemented redesigns of key corporate functions such as accounting to deliver group-wide synergies. He also regularly serves as an expert panelist to leading organizations, including at NADA’s “20 Groups” and AICPA’s National Auto Dealership Conference and has previously developed advanced seminars on topics such as “Automotive Management Consulting” and “Valuation of a Dealership.”

“Our dealer partners are increasingly in need of creative capital partners to assist them in achieving their strategic objectives, to provide growth capital and to address ownership transitions, particularly as technology evolves and disruptors enter the automotive sector and as the industry moves through traditional business cycles,” said Jay Ferriero, President and Chief Executive Officer at Capital Automotive Real Estate Services. “We believe CAF is in a unique position to help our clients navigate this dynamic marketplace and to provide them with customized capital solutions.”

“Rick Kotzen and CARS bring a combination of deep industry knowledge, expertise and relationships in automotive real estate and finance to CAF,” said Wray Thorn, Chief Investment Officer of TSPI. “We’re looking forward to partnering with Rick, Jay and the entire CARS team to offer a value-added, flexible capital platform to the retail automotive industry.”

About Capital Automotive Financial
Capital Automotive Financial offers customized equity capital solutions to automotive retailers. The firm seeks to partner with best-in-class Dealers, Chief Operating Officers and General Managers looking for equity capital solutions to navigate to the next phase in their business growth cycles. Backed by a unique partnership between TSPI, the private investments division of Two Sigma Investments, and CARS, a leading provider of real estate financing to the automotive retail industry, CAF fuses extensive industry expertise with flexible, long-term capital to drive value and facilitate dealer partners’ strategic growth and business goals. CAF is led by industry veteran Richard Kotzen, who has over 35 years of experience in the automotive retail sector. For more information please visit: http://capautofinancial.com/

About Capital Automotive Real Estate Services
Capital Automotive is the first company solely focused on providing highly tailored sale-leaseback capital to the automotive retail industry, and has been supporting automobile dealers since 1998. Through custom tailored real estate finance, CARS assists dealers in growing their organizations, acquiring new locations, upgrading existing facilities, constructing new stores, and facilitating estate planning and partner buyouts. CARS was created via collaboration of automobile dealers and experts in real estate and finance. Since inception, the team at CARS have developed and maintained relationships throughout the industry that have provided an in-house level of expertise unparalleled in the marketplace. Since October 2014, Capital Automotive has been owned by Brookfield Property Partners (NYSE: BPY) (TSX: BPY.UN) and its institutional partners. Brookfield Property Partners is one of the world’s largest commercial real estate companies, with over $66 billion in total assets. Brookfield Property Partners are leading owners, operators and investors in commercial property assets, with a diversified portfolio that includes 149 premier office properties and 128 best-in-class retail malls around the world. Brookfield Property Partners is the flagship listed real estate company of Brookfield Asset Management, a leading global alternative asset manager with approximately $250 billion in assets under management.

For more information please visit: http://www.capitalautomotive.com/

About Two Sigma Private Investments
Two Sigma Private Investments (TSPI) is the private markets investment division of Two Sigma. TSPI focuses on making investments in private equity, credit and special opportunities, real assets and venture capital primarily on behalf of Two Sigma’s proprietary capital. The TSPI team is comprised of experienced professionals investing both directly and in partnership with other successful investment managers. TSPI seeks to capitalize on advantages afforded by its flexible capital approach and the strengths of the Two Sigma platform, while benefiting from Two Sigma’s highly disciplined, institutional management.

For more information please visit: http://www.twosigmapi.com/