Asbury Automotive Group CFO Michael Welch told analysts last week that the retailer didn’t plan to seek new acquisitions until it had cut its leverage to 2 times earnings. And at a debt ratio of 2.1 times earnings at the end of June, Asbury is close enough to that point to re-enter the buy-sell market, CEO David Hult said. That ratio had been 2.7 in December 2021, the month Asbury’s $3.48 billion acquisition of Larry H. Miller Dealerships and Total Care Auto closed.

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