Raleigh-based Leith Automotive Group, one of the largest car dealership companies in North Carolina, has agreed to sell itself to a New Jersey-based company for an undisclosed price.
The deal with Holman is expected to close by the end of March. Employees were notified on Wednesday.
The Leith dealerships will continue to use that brand name, and its employees will be retained, according to the deal.
“Over the past 56 years, the Leith family has built an incredible organization and a large, close-knit family of employee partners, and Holman is committed to keeping their tradition of success moving forward,” said a joint statement from the two companies.
Leith recently became one of the first U.S. dealers for VinFast, the Vietnamese electronic vehicle manufacturer with plans to build a plant in Chatham County.
The company has more than 2,000 employees at more than 30 dealerships in the Raleigh/Cary and Pinehurst area. Its brands include everything from Ford to BMW to Jaguar. Its annual revenue is more than $1 billion, according to Business North Carolina’s list of the largest private companies in the state.
Mike Leith worked for a Richmond, Virginia, car dealer after graduating from Babson College when Ford offered to sell him his first dealership, a Lincoln-Mercury franchise on Capital Boulevard in Raleigh. It opened in 1969.
Holman is one of the largest privately owned dealership groups in the United States, with 40 dealership franchises representing 20 brands from the East Coast to the Pacific Northwest.