REGIONALREPORT Triangle
A company of many parts
Business North Carolina’s annual ranking of the largest private companies in the state will lose one of its longest-tenured members in 2014. Raleigh-based General Parts International Inc., No. 2 on the North Carolina 100 this year (“Laying it Online,” October), will be acquired by Roanoke, Va.-based Advance Auto Parts Inc. for $2 billion. The deal gives Advance a larger footprint and will create $160 million of annual savings within three years. O. Temple Sloan Jr., 74, founded General Parts in 1962. He will become an adviser after the merger; son O. Temple Sloan III will remain president of General Parts, parent of the Carquest Auto Parts chain. It also owns 102 WORLDPAC branches, which import and distribute parts for foreign cars. And while it may no longer appear on our ranking, it will move on to something bigger: being part of the largest provider of replacement auto parts in North America.
Briefs
Bill Atkinson stepped down as CEO of WakeMed Health & Hospitals in September after leading the Raleigh-based health system for 10 years. He and the board of directors had “differences in the future direction of the organization,” according to a statement. A national search is underway to find his replacement.
DURHAM — Purdue Pharma Manufacturing will build a plant here, investing $59 million and hiring 100 within three years. The Stamford, Conn.-based company makes the painkiller OxyContin as well as other prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Average annual wage will be $70,199, higher than Durham County’s average of $66,602.
RALEIGH — LexisNexis will relocate from Cary to a 120,000-square-foot building on N.C. State University’s Centennial Campus, previously occupied by Raleigh-based software developer Red Hat. The move will more than double the business-software provider’s space in the Triangle, where its business-of-law division is based.