APCO Holdings buys F&I competitor Nationwide Auto Care

Finance and coverage provider and administrator APCO Holdings on Jan. 3 bought competitor Nationwide Car Care, making one of the industry’s largest providers.

Tony Wanderon, 60, who led Countrywide Automobile Care as CEO, changed Scot Eisenfelder as CEO of APCO Holdings. Eisenfelder still left APCO, the firm stated.

Management from both of those businesses would not disclose the obtain cost, but Wanderon informed Automotive News merged revenue for the providers is close to $300 million.

Wanderon explained he and APCO President John Lee had been talking about strategies to merge their providers, “and finally, we experienced the prospect this earlier 12 months to be able to place that in engage in and near nowadays.”

“We’re going to be a single of the major two or a few suppliers in the region at the dimension and scale that we are today,” Wanderon extra. “Our target is really going to be pushed all over incorporating supplier profitability and introducing worth to our relationships in the marketplace and investing closely as we will need to really be substantially much more efficient as we move forward and make investments in know-how with what we’re all obtaining to offer with each individual working day.”

The blended APCO and Countrywide Auto Care corporation has about 800 staff members and regularly products and services far more than 2,000 franchised dealerships in the United States, Wanderon estimated. Finbarr O’Neill, executive chairman of APCO Holdings, reported the organization experienced about 450 staff at the time of the merger. O’Neill begun performing with APCO’s board in 2017 and turned chairman in 2019. He stated APCO was actively hunting to acquire given that May well 2021.

The acquisition “completes our nationwide footprint, broadens our solution offerings, delivers us an further govt management expertise that will enable us provide our dealers far better and go on our development,” O’Neill advised Automotive News.

One particular spot of feasible progress for Norcross, Ga.-primarily based APCO will be the West Coastline, this kind of as California, Arizona and Utah, said Wanderon, noting there was not a whole lot of overlap amongst the two companies’ geographic footprints.

“There is no state the place we’re hunting at and declaring, ‘You know we have overcapacity’ or ‘We never want to expand that marketplace any longer,’ ” he explained.

An additional progress chance will be offering more insurance policies products and solutions developed especially for electrical cars, Wanderon reported.

National Vehicle Care, of Westerville, Ohio, and Ponte Vedra Beach front, Fla., supplies finance and insurance plan merchandise, administration, consulting expert services, coaching and internet marketing assist. Its consumers contain automotive, RV and powersports sellers, credit score unions and economical institutions. The business, established in 1984, has been expanding its small business by way of organic development and strategic acquisitions. Considering that 2020, it has done 21 acquisitions, bringing in new merchandise lines, new locations and company offerings, in accordance to Lovell Minnick, a personal equity company that labored on the deal.

“M&A has been a massive piece of our expansion,” Wanderon mentioned.

APCO, founded in 1984, is a provider and administrator of finance and insurance policy products. The company markets its products utilizing its EasyCare, GWC Guarantee and MemberCare brand name names, alongside with other non-public labels. The addition of Nationwide Car Care provides a new powersports phase to APCO.

APCO proceeds to be in a development method. Mentioned O’Neill: “We carry on to glimpse for M&A opportunities.”