Pohanka body shops sold to repair chain, from Automotive News.
A major body shop chain has acquired Pohanka Collision Centers, a 12-store auto body shop group in Maryland and Virginia affiliated with Pohanka Automotive Group.
With auto body repairs becoming more complex and requiring major capital investments, body shop owners are selling their businesses to private equity firms and large chains.
Pohanka Automotive Group has 15 dealerships and last year ranked 37th on the Automotive News list of the top 125 dealership groups based in the U.S., with retail sales of 18,319 new vehicles in 2013.
Caliber Collision Centers, controlled by a Canadian private equity firm, on Dec. 31 bought Pohanka Collision and another chain in Maryland and Virginia, Craftsmen Auto Body, which has 13 shops. With the two acquisitions, which will be combined, Caliber now operates 234 stores in 11 states.