An Australian automotive parts supplier that Genuine Parts Co. bought into a year ago is doing well enough that the Atlanta business will buy the whole company.
Genuine Parts already owns a 30 percent stake in Exego Group, but will buy the remaining 70 percent of the aftermarket car parts supplier for about $800 million. All together, the purchase will cost about $960 million.
Exego has more than 430 locations across Australia and New Zealand, and annual revenue of more than $1 billion. Genuine Parts executives said the move would position the company for further expansion in Southeast Asia from both a geographic and cultural standpoint.
Owning Exego outright “positions us to participate in the ongoing and significant growth opportunities,” Genuine Parts’ chairman and CEO, Tom Gallagher, said in a statement Monday. Exego exceeded Genuine Parts’ growth expectations during the time it was involved in the company. The sale is expected to close April 1.
The 91-year-old Exego could be a jumping-off point for Genuine Parts to expand internationally. The Atlanta company had some stores in Europe in the 1970s, but sold them after four or five years because they were not generating sufficient revenue.
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