Charter Equities Signs Acquisition Letter of Intent
GILBERT, AZ - October 9, 2007: Charter Equities, Inc. (Pink Sheets: CEQI) announced today the signing of a Letter of Intent to acquire a second southern California RV dealership. Charter subsidiary, Saddleback Recreational Vehicles, Inc., www.saddlebackrv.com, signed a Letter of Intent to acquire the assets and business of a 25 year-old RV dealership that will consolidate its primary operations into the Saddleback facility in Colton, California, while also operating under the Saddleback name at its existing long time southern California facility. This second dealership has a consistent record of approximately $10,000,000 of annual revenues. The LOI calls for part cash and stock as the purchase price and includes a confidentiality provision until the closing that is scheduled for November 15, 2007 under a definitive Agreement to be signed no later than November 1, 2007.
“We are very pleased that our previous discussions with this single point dealer in California have resulted in the signing of this LOI," said Mat Curtner, President of Charter.
Charter recently began implementing its RV Consolidation Plan with the acquisition of Saddleback RV. The Charter plan reveals that the United States recreation vehicle industry is a $16 billion a year industry that caters to the travel and leisure needs of an estimated 30 million RV enthusiasts by selling and servicing recreation vehicles. The Recreation Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA) lists the number of new RVs shipped to dealers in a range between 256,000 up to 384,400 per year since 2001.
Saddleback is a highly visible recreational vehicle dealer in Colton, California. Saddleback operated from Irvine, California from 1991 before moving to its new, state of the art, Colton dealership facility in 2006. Their new dealership includes a comfortable atmosphere and extensive service capabilities for the well-heeled RVer. With average annual sales of $24,938,000 the past four years, Saddleback has a recognized and well established presence in the RV dealership community. Saddleback has exclusive marketing territories for the following products or manufacturers: 5th Wheel Trailers by Carriage, Inc.; Toyhaulers by Dutchman; Class C and Class A motorhomes by Gulfstream and Four Winds, a division of Thor, and luxury motorhomes by Foretravel.
As a wholly owned subsidiary of Charter, Saddleback and this new proposed acquisition will continue to be managed by Michael Sebastian as Dealer Principal of the Saddleback dealership with the added responsibility of identifying potential acquisition candidates.
In addition to Saddleback and the RV acquisition plan, Charter currently invests in, owns and manages real estate in the Phoenix market through its other subsidiaries, Charter Investment Properties, Inc. and Charter Media and Marketing, Inc., www.charterequitiesgroup.com.