Asbury Automotive completes $1.2B Jim Koons acquisition

Asbury Automotive Group Inc. on Monday said its $1.2 billion acquisition of privately held Jim Koons Automotive Cos. is complete. The deal, the largest transaction tracked by Automotive News this year based on the number of dealerships acquired, includes 20 dealerships and six collision centers in the mid-Atlantic.

The transaction price, paid via cash and available funding, included $740 million for goodwill, about $420 million for real estate and leasehold improvements and about $70 million for new and used cars, service loaner vehicles, fixed assets and parts and supplies, Asbury said in a Monday regulatory filing.

Asbury CEO David Hult called the deal a "milestone transaction."

This acquisition positions Asbury to surpass Group 1 Automotive Inc. in annual new-vehicle sales and move it from the fifth-largest dealership group based in the U.S. to the fourth-largest behind No. 3 Penske Automotive Group Inc., No. 2 AutoNation Inc. and No. 1 Lithia Motors Inc.

The acquisition also helps Asbury with its ambitions to grow its annual revenue figure to $32 billion by 2025.

Asbury, of Duluth, Ga., retailed 151,179 new vehicles last year. The Koons group, of Vienna, Va., which last year reported $3.2 billion in revenue and sales of 26,188 new vehicles, ranked No. 23 on Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealership groups in the U.S.

Kerrigan Advisors, a sell-side firm in Incline Village, Nev., represented Jim Koons Automotive in the deal.