The growing Hudson Automotive Group is about to get even bigger.
The Charleston, S.C., dealership group, which has been acquiring stores at a brisk pace the past few years, plans to buy the four-store Beaman Automotive Group in Nashville.
Beaman announced the pending sale last week and said the deal is expected to close in October or November.
With 450 employees, Beaman Automotive generated $414 million in revenue last year. It has Toyota and Buick-GMC outlets in Nashville, a Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep-Ram-Fiat store in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and a Ford dealership in South Dickson, Tenn.
The sale will include all inventory and fixed assets, plus a parts warehouse and collision center. Other terms weren’t disclosed.
Beaman Automotive CEO Lee Beaman, in remarks to employees shared with Automotive News, said he had been approached “dozens and dozens of times” over the years to sell his company, but nothing felt right until now.
“I can think of only one family and one company with whom I would entrust the sale of my company, and that is David Hudson and Hudson Automotive Group,” Lee Beaman said in a statement. “My father, Alvin Beaman, founded this company in 1945, and it was only three years later that David’s grandfather began Hudson Automotive a few miles up the road in Providence, Kentucky.
“Their commitment to doing right by their employees and their customers is unparalleled, and I am excited for the future of continuing the rich tradition of Beaman Automotive through Hudson’s care and commitment to our industry.”
Hudson operates 20 franchised dealerships, plus a used-only store and recently acquired a majority stake in six other Southeast dealerships that it did not identify.
Hudson Automotive President David Hudson told Automotive News that his company has owned dealerships in Tennessee since 2010 and he likes the market. Already this year, the company purchased Chevrolet of Morristown in Tennessee from Greg Helfrich and Pete Mankins, and Bob Frensley Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram-Fiat in Madison, Tenn., from the Frensley family.
“Nashville is booming right now so we were excited to expand our footprint in middle Tennessee with great brands,” Hudson said in an email. “Beaman Auto Group has been an institution in Nashville for 75 years and we’re delighted to add it to our group.”
Hudson told The Post and Courier newspaper in Charleston that conversations with Beaman started in February.
Hudson said told Automotive News that Hudson will lease the desirable land under the Toyota and Buick-GMC dealerships in Nashville and ultimately relocate those stores to newly built facilities.
Hudson Automotive, with more than 1,500 employees, has dealerships in seven states — Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana and Ohio.
