As it prepares to digest one of the biggest acquisitions in auto retailing in recent years, Asbury Automotive Group Inc. is without executives in two of its top leadership roles.
John Hartman, who led operations at Asbury for two years, left the public dealership group last week on the heels of the company striking its largest-ever store acquisition deal. Hartman’s departure came three weeks after Asbury announced it would buy 10 dealerships in Texas from Park Place Dealerships. The retailer also is in the market for a CFO after the November departure of Sean Goodman, who took that role at AMC Entertainment.
Asbury last week declined to comment on Hartman’s departure or the plan to fill the open leadership roles.
In mid-December, the Duluth, Ga., company signed asset purchase agreements to buy the Park Place dealerships in one of the largest industry acquisitions in at least a decade.
Rajat Gupta, an analyst at J.P. Morgan, said the timing of Hartman’s departure from Asbury is surprising, given the scale of the retailer’s acquisition and the exit of its finance chief.
“I’m sure Hartman would have been involved in the integration of the deal,” Gupta said. “They definitely need to fill those roles really quickly. There’s no question.”
Pending approval by automakers and regulators, the $1 billion all-cash deal for the Park Place stores is expected to expand Asbury’s luxury-brand revenue mix to about 50 percent, up from 33 percent, and boost the retailer’s Texas revenue share to 36 percent. The 10 Park Place stores involved in the transaction, which is expected to close by the end of March, represent 17 new-vehicle franchises.
Asbury CEO David Hult said in December that the acquisition would improve margins, produce at least $20 million in cost savings over the next three years and increase annual revenue by 30 percent to $9 billion.
“We truly believe Park Place will transform our company long term,” Hult told analysts on a call last month.
Hartman joined Asbury at the close of 2017, replacing Hult as head of operations after Hult became CEO. Hartman previously was a market director for another publicly traded dealership group, Group 1 Automotive Inc.
A 30-year industry veteran, Hartman has held almost every dealership position, working as a salesperson, service adviser, service manager, finance manager, general sales manager and general manager, according to Asbury’s website. He was a member of the national dealer council for Toyota’s former Scion brand. And he was on the board of the Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers Association for six years.
Asbury ranks No. 7 on Automotive News‘ list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., with retail sales of 105,275 new vehicles in 2018.