Ken Schnitzer, founder and Chairman of Park Place Dealerships, announced today Asbury Automotive Group canceled plans to purchase Park Place Dealerships. The sale was to be finalized at the end of the month.
We first broke the news last December (click here) that Schnitzer was selling 14 of his dealerships to Asbury Automotive Group, one of the largest automotive retail and service companies with 88 dealerships and revenues of $6.9 billion. The $1 billion all-cash transaction would have included the Park Place brand and the following dealerships: Mercedes-Benz stores in Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington, Lexus Plano and Lexus Grapevine, Jaguar Land Rover DFW, Jaguar Land Rover North Austin, Porsche Dallas, Volvo, Bentley Dallas, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Dallas, McLaren Dallas, and Maserati Dallas. Park Place BodyWerks in Dallas was also slated to be included in the sale.
According to Asbury’s SEC filing, the company paid Park Place Dealerships $10 million for terminating the agreement.
“We will continue to do what we have done best for the past 33 years,” said Schnitzer. “Now more than ever, we remain committed to creating exceptional experiences for our clients, relying on the talent within our organization, and, most importantly, keeping everyone safe.
Our members continue to show resilience and compassion during this difficult time, and we will overcome the challenges we are experiencing as a team.”
Schnitzer founded Park Place Dealerships in 1987 with a single Mercedes-Benz dealership on Oak Lawn Avenue.
Park Place Dealerships employs more than 2,100 members and operates 18 full-service dealerships representing luxury brands Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover, Koenigsegg, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, McLaren, and Maserati.
