The team at Performance Brokerage, North America’s highest volume Harley dealership brokerage house, is back in the saddle again. This time they brokered the sale of Cowboy Harley-Davidson, with locations in Austin, San Antonio and Beaumont, Texas (along with Cowboy Powersports of Beaumont) between Sheila Umphrey and the Ed Morse Automotive Group.
The Cowboy Harley-Davidson and Cowboy Powersports dealerships were acquired by the late Walter Umphrey in 1999. Well known in the Southeast Texas community for his charitable contributions and his reputation as a successful attorney, along with his passion for motorcycles, Walter was a natural environment that the community wanted to be a part of. After Walter’s passing in 2021, and after 23 years of growing the business, Sheila Umphrey, Walter’s wife, decided it was the right time to sell the dealerships.
“I would like to thank George Chaconas and Courtney Bernhard of Performance Brokerage Services for introducing me to Teddy Morse and Randy Hoffman of the Ed Morse Group,” said Sheila following the sale. “Teddy and Randy were delightful and very professional to work with. We spoke with 6 other potential buyers, but Teddy’s group was the best.
“I have known of the Umphrey’s for years and reached out to Sheila after the passing of her husband, Walter, to offer my condolences,” says Chaconas. “Sheila said she would consider selling the dealerships, so I introduced her to our client, Ed Morse Automotive Group. An avid rider, Teddy Morse jumped on the opportunity to own a Harley-Davidson dealership.”
Ed Morse Automotive Group is headquartered in Delray Beach, Florida, and has been family owned and operated for more than 75 years. Ed Morse established Morse Motors in 1946, and the operation is now under the leadership of Ed’s grandson, Chairman and CEO, Teddy Morse. The Cowboy family of dealerships add the first powersports franchises to the group’s dealership count of 30+ stores and add nearly 140 employees to their workforce of more than 1,800.
“When we were in the market to get into the powersports business, one name kept surfacing as an expert, George Chaconas of Performance Brokerage Services,” adds Randy Hoffman, COO of Ed Morse Automotive. “George introduced us to the Cowboy dealerships, and we are excited to have acquired all of them and grow our footprint in Texas. Teddy Morse and I want to thank George and his team for helping facilitate this very large and special acquisition.”
The dealerships will remain at their current locations:
Cowboy Harley-Davidson of Austin at 10917 South I-35 Frontage Road in Austin
Texas Cowboy Harley-Davidson of Beaumont at 1150 I-10 South Access Road in Beaumont, Texas Cowboy’s Alamo City Harley-Davidson at 11005 I-35 Frontage Road in San Antonio, Texas Cowboy Powersports Beaumont at 1280 I-10 in Beaumont, Texas