RV Retailer has acquired Motor Home Specialist in Texas from the O’Banion family. Donny O’Banion will continue to lead Motor Home Specialist as CEO and will retain an ownership stake in the business. Donny is the son of Doug O’Banion, who founded Motor Home Specialist more than 20 years ago.
Motor Home Specialist retailed more than 2,200 RVs in 2017, generating more than $275 million in revenue. Motor Home Specialist retails new and used motorhomes and towable RVs from its flagship 80-acre RV dealership facility located in Alvarado, Texas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth market. Motor Home Specialist also provides service and parts and customer financial services to its customers.
“We are excited to partner with Donny O’Banion and the Motor Home Specialist management team to continue its run as the No. 1 motorhome dealer in the world from its home base in Texas,” said Jon Ferrando, president and CEO of RV Retailer. “We also welcome Motor Home Specialist’s 140 dedicated associates to the RV Retailer family. They provide an exceptional experience to the thousands of customers that purchase from Motor Home Specialist every year. We will continue to operate the business under the Motor Home Specialist retail brand name which has been built successfully over the past 20 years.”
“The high-quality, premium RV product mix across a wide range of brands offered by Motor Home Specialist from its best-in-class facility is outstanding,” said Ferrando. “We look forward to working with all of the manufacturer partners to continue to represent their RV products in a world-class manner.”
RV Retailer was founded in 2018 by Ferrando and John Rizzo, together with Redwood Capital Investments, to create an RV retail company.
“We are proud to be working with the RV Retailer team to build a premier RV dealership platform,” said Patrick Sissman, VP at Redwood Capital Investments. “Motor Home Specialist is a unique and differentiated RV retail business which will provide a strong foundation for future growth.”
“Doug and Sharon O’Banion were great to work with through this transition,” said Rizzo, executive VP and CFO of RV Retailer. “There will always only be one founder of Motor Home Specialist, and it is Doug O’Banion.”