CMS advises Pinewood.AI on strategic acquisition of Lithia’s majority stake in North American joint venture
CMS has advised Pinewood Technologies (Pinewood.AI), a leading cloud-based software provider for the automotive retail industry, on its conditional agreement to acquire Lithia’s 51% interest in their North American joint venture for $76.5m.
The acquisition will be satisfied through the issue of 14,560,691 new ordinary shares in Pinewood.AI to Lithia, valuing the joint venture at approximately $150m.
Full ownership of the joint venture will give Pinewood.AI complete control of its North American platform, removing potential barriers to its broader adoption and supporting its expansion across the region’s $6.5bn automotive retail software sector. The acquisition will also simplify Pinewood.AI’s structure and financial reporting, enabling full revenue consolidation and greater transparency.
Alongside the proposed transaction, Pinewood.AI and Lithia have signed a five-year contract committing to the rollout of the Pinewood Automotive Intelligence™ platform across all Lithia’s current and future dealerships in the US and Canada projected by the end of 2028.
James Parkes, CMS Corporate Partner, commented: “We’re delighted to have supported long-standing client Pinewood.AI on this strategic transaction, which will enable them to accelerate their North American growth ambitions. This deal demonstrates the strength of our multi-disciplinary transactional and capital markets expertise and our commitment to supporting clients at the forefront of digital innovation.”
The CMS team was led by James Parkes, with support from Kieran O'Brien, Kate Badr, Harry Cross, Hamish Oliver and Carys Holland (Corporate); David Ramage and Haris Saleem (Commercial); and Jacqueline Vallat and Emma Waterhouse (Competition).
With over 1,400 corporate lawyers across more than 80 offices worldwide, CMS has a proven track record of advising on complex, cross-border transactions in the technology and automotive sectors. The firm’s multidisciplinary teams are well-placed to support clients on strategic deals that drive innovation and growth in rapidly evolving markets.
