As soon as the German aftermarket has grown accustomed to the presence of an Alliance Automotive Group, everything has already changed completely.

 

In 2016 and 2017, the Franco-British group bought four parts traders in Germany, Coler, Busch, Büge and most recently Klapper. In France and the United Kingdom, too, mainly small and medium-sized parts dealers were bought up, but also large distributors such as FPS (UK) and most recently Groupauto Polska. At the end of September, the French trade journal Apres Vente Auto announced that the Alliance Automotive Group is to be taken over by an even bigger fish in the pond. For the price of 1.7 billion Euros, AAG has gone to the American company Genuine Parts Company, GPC in short.

GPC was founded in 1928 and has the following structure:

  • NAPA Automotive Parts Group with 1,100 NAPA AUTO PARTS stores in the USA and 200 outlets in Canada, 417 Repco AUTO PARTS stores in Australia and New Zealand, plus 12 outlets in Mexico.
  • MI Industrial Parts Group, MI operates 15 warehouses, 533 outlets and 46 service centers in the USA, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico.
  • SPR Office Products Group
  • EIS Electrical/Electronic Material Group

In 2016, GPC generated total sales of more than EUR 14 billion, 52% of which from the automotive segment.

The NAPA Automotive Parts Group distributes automotive parts and accessories under the brand name NAPA through a network of approximately 6,000 outlets in the United States, of which 1,100 are owned by GPC. In Australia and New Zealand, the parts are sold under the brand name Repco. In the USA, NAPA/GPC is one of the so-called “Program Groups”, which generate the majority of their sales via their own brands.

Together, the two companies GPC and AAG want to grow further, both in Europe and overseas. In the light of this mixed situation, the opening of a bidding process by Stahlgruber is not as surprising as it was a few weeks ago.