Karl Malone, McGrath Imports and Paul Thigpen buy dealerships

Three dealership groups, in single-store deals, acquired General Motors outlets in the third quarter, including former NBA star Karl Malone buying a Utah dealership.

Here's a quick look at the deals.

Basketball Hall of Famer Karl Malone's dealership group, following an expansion into Arkansas this summer, has grown its Utah presence.

Karl Malone Auto Group of Draper, Utah, bought Mike Hale Chevrolet in Park City on Sept. 15 from Mike Hale. The dealership has been renamed Karl Malone Chevrolet. Hale is retaining Mike Hale Acura in Murray, Utah.

The Chevrolet store is the Karl Malone group's third dealership in Utah. It owns Karl Malone Toyota in Draper and Karl Malone Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram in Heber City. Park City is northeast of Draper and north of Heber City.

The Park City dealership marks Karl Malone's sixth rooftop and second Chevrolet store. In June, the group bought Teague Toyota-Chevrolet and Teague Ford-Lincoln, both in El Dorado, Ark., from Jeff Teague.

With the Arkansas and Park City acquisitions, Karl Malone's rooftop count has doubled since 2019, when the group bought a Toyota dealership in Ruston, La.

Performance Brokerage Services, a dealership buy-sell firm in Irvine, Calif., handled the Mike Hale Chevrolet transaction.

McGrath Imports of Chicago purchased its first domestic store last month when it bought Highway Chevrolet-Buick-GMC in El Paso, Ill., southwest of Chicago.

Kevin McGrath and Will Mulcahy bought the store Aug. 31 from Ivette Dominguez Drawe, Rick Jones and Michael Drawe, said Jennifer Rafael of Dealer Solutions Mergers and Acquisitions. The Markham, Ontario buy-sell firm, which has a U.S. office in Jupiter, Fla., represented the sellers in the transaction.

The trio of Highway owners had owned the store since 2018.

The dealership has been renamed McGrath Highway Chevrolet-Buick-GMC.

McGrath Imports also sells Acura, Genesis, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Lexus, Mazda and Subaru vehicles in the Chicago area, according to its website.

This month, Dominguez Drawe, Jones and Drawe bought an Acura store in Tulsa, Okla.

Paul Thigpen and Anthony Miller have purchased their second dealership together: Jackson Chevrolet-Buick-GMC in LaFayette, Ga., near the Tennessee border and Chattanooga.

The duo bought the store Aug. 31 from Deborah Jackson Skates and Danny Skates. The store will be renamed Paul Thigpen Chevrolet-Buick-GMC, Miller said.

Miller told Automotive News that they wanted to buy the store because “it mimics our Vidalia market space.”

Miller and Thigpen own Paul Thigpen Ford-Lincoln in Vidalia, Ga., and Thigpen owns another Chevrolet-Buick-GMC store in Vidalia, in the southeast part of the state.

Bill Fields of Dealer Solutions Mergers and Acquisitions represented the seller in the transaction.