Georgia dealership giant absorbs Stevinson Automotive

DULUTH, GEORGIA — Asbury Automotive Group Inc. (NYSE: ABG), which made a splash in the Colorado car dealer market this year with the $3.2 billion purchase of Larry H. Miller Group of Cos. operations, is diving in again with the acquisition of Stevinson Automotive Inc.

Locally, Stevinson, which employs about 600 workers, operates Lexus of Frederick and Hyundai of Longmont. The group has a half-dozen other dealerships around the Denver area. 

Asbury paid $377 million in cash for the business and real estate assets, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission disclosure. 

“After meeting with [Asbury CEO] David Hult and the Asbury team and getting to know them, I knew that their business approach, their philosophy toward employees and customers mirrored our own here at Stevinson,” Stevinson owner Kent Stevinson said in a prepared statement. “I look forward to David and his exceptional team continuing the Stevinson legacy for another 60 years.”

Stevinson has operated for nearly six decades in Colorado.

“My family built our business on the simple principle of treating every customer as if they were a guest in our home and delivering a little more than expected. For a family business like ours with long-term roots in the Denver community, making the decision to sell, and identifying the right buyer, were critical to me and my brothers,” he said in a statement.

Kerrigan Advisors represented Stevinson in the deal.

Car dealerships with operations in the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado have been a hot commodity of late in the M&A markets.

Utah-based Ken Garff Automotive Group last month bought the Spradley Barr Automotive Group in Northern Colorado for an undisclosed price.

Erlich Motors sold its Toyota dealerships in Greeley and Fort Morgan to McDonald Toyota of Littleton in June. McDonald also bought Ehrlich’s Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram dealership in Fort Morgan.

In December 2020, the Elway Dealership Group bought Co’s BMW and MINI of Loveland from the Van Herwaarden family. The Elway group had sold its Greeley store to Asbury Automotive Group, also in 2020.

In November 2019, the Tynan’s Nissan and Kia dealerships in Fort Collins sold to the Roger Weibel family of Longmont, which has multiple dealerships in Longmont as well as Greeley and Loveland.

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