Group 1 Automotive Inc. completed its $1.3 billion purchase of Hennessy Automobile Cos., adding 10 dealerships and a collision center in the Atlanta market.
The publicly held auto retailer closed the acquisition Oct. 19. Group 1 in July said it would purchase the Hennessy stores, which have about $1.7 billion in annualized revenue.
The acquisition includes 10 dealerships, mostly luxury brands. Group 1 renamed some of the stores.
The dealerships involved are now called:
Group 1’s acquisition also includes a collision center, renamed Group 1 Collision Center.
The acquisition is part of Group 1’s cluster strategy to have multiple dealerships in select markets, CEO Daryl Kenningham said in July.
“The acquisition is about much more than just acquiring an outstanding group of great stores,” Kenningham said on the company’s second-quarter earnings call. “It is also about Group 1 repositioning our portfolio around stores that fit our desired success profile: premium brands, high-revenue rooftops, growing markets and clusters.”
Including the Hennessy stores, the deal brings Group 1’s Atlanta market dealership count to 15, the retailer said.
Sell-side advisory firm Kerrigan Advisors, of Incline Village, Nev., advised the Hennessy family.
The sale was “deeply emotional” and “a really difficult decision because it impacts employees” — some of whom his family has known for more than 40 years, said Robert Hennessy, who had been dealer principal of the Cadillac store since 2025.
The Hennessy group employed about 1,000 people, he said. It was not immediately clear how many employees Group 1 retained, though Ryan Kerrigan, managing director at Kerrigan Advisors, said “virtually all” Hennessy employees will stay on with Group 1.
Brothers Mark, Stephen and Peter Hennessy “were unanimous” in the decision to sell the entirety of their Hennessy new-car dealerships to Group 1, Robert Hennessy said of his father, Mark, and uncles.
“The general attitude is one of happiness and curiosity about next steps, but I think it’s fair to say we already miss the business,” Robert Hennessy said.
The Hennessy family remains in the auto retail industry as an investor in a chain of buy-here, pay-here dealerships in the Midwest, he said.
Hennessy’s luxury-dominant platform made it “more interesting” to Group 1," Kerrigan said.
“Luxury franchises in major metros are becoming fewer and fewer, in the sense that they are largely owned by the top 100 groups in the country,” Kerrigan said, adding that those stores are not often sold.
Group 1, of Houston, ranks No. 4 on Automotive News’ list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 224,166 new vehicles in 2025.
Kerrigan Advisors is the leading sell-side advisor and thought partner to auto dealers nationwide. Since its founding in 2014, the firm has led the industry with the sale of over 450 franchises generating more than $11 billion in client proceeds, including three of the largest transactions in auto retail history – the sale of Jim Koons Automotive Companies to Asbury Automotive Group, Leith Automotive to Holman, and Hennessy Automotive Companies to Group 1 Automotive (planned and expected to close in Q4 2026). The firm advises the industry’s leading dealership groups, enhancing value through the lifecycle of growing, operating and, when the time is right, selling their businesses. Led by a team of veteran industry experts with backgrounds in investment banking, private equity, accounting, finance and real estate, Kerrigan Advisors is the only firm in auto retail exclusively dedicated to sell-side advisory, providing its clients with the assurance of a conflict-free approach.
Kerrigan Advisors monitors conditions in the buy/sell market and publishes an in-depth analysis each quarter in The Blue Sky Report®, which includes Kerrigan Advisors’ signature blue sky charts, multiples and analysis for each franchise in the luxury and non-luxury segments. To download a preview of the report, click here. The firm also releases monthly The Kerrigan Index™ composed of the seven publicly traded auto retail companies with operations focused on the US market. The Kerrigan Auto Retail Index is designed to track dealership valuation trends, while also providing key insights into factors influencing auto retail. To read the 2025 Kerrigan Dealer Survey, click here. To read the 2026 Kerrigan OEM Survey, click here. Kerrigan Advisors is also the co-author of NADA’s Guide to Buying and Selling a Dealership. Additionally, Kerrigan Advisors publishes a podcast, Beyond Blue Sky – A Kerrigan Conversation, where Kerrigan Advisors’ clients and industry leaders share the mindset, strategy and personal stories behind a once-in-a-generation transaction.
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