One of Nashville's new corporate citizens being bought

California company moved its corporate offices here just last year

Email | Print By Richard Lawson

07-17-2007 11:38 AM — After-market auto parts distributor Keystone Automotive, one of Nashville’s newest corporate citizens, is being bought out.

The company announced this morning that it had signed an agreement to be acquired by Chicago-based LKQ Corp., a company that serves auto collision centers with after-market and recycled parts, for $48 per share. The deal is valued at about $811 million.

Keystone moved its corporate functions here last year from California, pretty much transplanting its headquarters to Grassmere Business Park office building being constructed.

Gary Maier, a spokesman for Keystone, said what happens with the corporate functions here is still up in the air. “It’s too early to speculate on utilization,” Maier said.

In May, Keystone sued Rochester Hills, Mich.-based MQVP, a company that runs a quality assurance, certification and licensing program Keystone once used, for defamation. The defendant’s president, William Hindelang, had claimed in a long press release that Keystone's president and chief executive officer, Richard Keister, had lied to investors and financial analysts on a conference call about Keystone's relationship with MQVP.

Keystone and LKQ serve the same market but do so differently. Keystone provides new after-market parts while LKQ sells recycled parts. LKQ’s business in new parts is much smaller than Keystone’s. Additionally, the acquisition of Keystone takes LKQ into the Canadian market.

The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year.