Asbury could grow to 4th largest group with deal

Nearly two years after purchasing Larry H. Miller Dealerships in one of the largest deals in auto retail history, Asbury Automotive Group Inc. has lined up an encore.

Publicly traded Asbury plans to buy the privately owned Jim Koons Automotive Cos. of the mid-Atlantic in what would be the first dealership megadeal since the frenzied fourth quarter of 2021. That time period, in which fellow public retail giants Group 1 Automotive Inc. and Sonic Automotive Inc. also bought large private groups, solidified the latest era of dealership consolidation.

Asbury, of Duluth, Ga., on Friday, Sept. 8, said it had agreed to spend $1.2 billion to purchase Jim Koons Automotive, a top 25 dealership group. The deal, expected to close in the fourth quarter or early in the first quarter, would add 20 franchised dealerships, six collision centers and one used-car store to its portfolio.

The Koons group reported $3.2 billion in revenue and sales of 26,188 new vehicles in 2022, ranking it No. 23 on Automotive News‘ list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S. Asbury ranked No. 5 on the list, retailing 151,179 new vehicles last year.

By acquiring Koons, it appears Asbury would pass Group 1 in new-vehicle sales andbecome the nation’s fourth-largest auto retailer behind No. 3 Penske Automotive Group Inc., No. 2 AutoNation Inc. and No. 1 Lithia Motors Inc.