Jim Koons Automotive will be acquired by Ashbury Automotive Group for an undisclosed sum, though the deal is one of the most sizeable combinations in auto retail history, according to the companies.
Jim Koons Automotive is the largest auto dealership in the Baltimore and D.C. region, with 20 dealerships, 29 franchises, six collision centers and 2,500 employees. Koons had $3 billion in revenue last year.
Duluth, Georgia-based Ashbury Automotive, a Fortune 500 company, operates 138 dealerships and 32 collision centers. It had $15.4 billion in 2022 revenue.
Koons Ford was founded in Falls Church, Virginia, in 1964 by John Koons. Son Jim Koons took over the company in 1973.
Koons is among top dealerships in the nation for volume sales of Toyota, Lexus, Mercedes, Ford, Kia, Hyundai, Volvo, Stellantis and General Motors. In 2022, its dealerships sold 61,000 new and used vehicles.
Irvine, California-based Kerrigan Advisors, which specializes in auto dealership transactions, advised Koons on the deal.
Kerrigan Advisors is the leading sell-side advisor and thought partner to auto dealers nationwide. Since its founding in 2014, the firm has led the industry with the sale of over 280 dealerships representing $9 billion in client proceeds, including the third largest transaction in auto retail history – the sale of Jim Koons Automotive Companies to Asbury Automotive Group. The firm advises the industry’s leading dealership groups, enhancing value through the lifecycle of growing, operating and, when the time is right, selling their businesses. Led by a team of veteran industry experts with backgrounds in investment banking, private equity, accounting, finance and real estate, Kerrigan Advisors does not take listings, rather they develop a customized sales approach for each client to achieve their personal and financial goals. In addition to the firm’s sell-side advisory services, Kerrigan Advisors also provides a suite of consulting and investor services including growth strategy, market valuation assessments, capital allocation, transactional due diligence, open point proposals, operational improvement and real estate due diligence.
Kerrigan Advisors monitors conditions in the buy/sell market and publishes an in-depth analysis each quarter in The Blue Sky Report®, which includes Kerrigan Advisors’ signature blue sky charts, multiples, and analysis for each franchise in the luxury and non-luxury segments. To download a preview of the report, click here. The firm also releases monthly The Kerrigan Index™ composed of the seven publicly traded auto retail companies with operations focused on the US market. The Kerrigan Auto Retail Index is designed to track dealership valuation trends, while also providing key insights into factors influencing auto retail. To access The Kerrigan Index™, click here. To read the 2023 Kerrigan Dealer Survey, click here. To read the 2024 Kerrigan OEM Survey, click here. Kerrigan Advisors also is the co-author of NADA’s Guide to Buying and Selling a Dealership.
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