Unipart Group is selling a controlling stake in Unipart Automotive, the car parts supplier, to H2 Equity Partners.
Unipart Group will continue to own 49.9 per cent of the business. Patrick Kalverboer, managing partner at H2, will become executive chairman of the new company.
Unipart Automotive has around 175 branches with sales of over £180m. It is expected that some 2,100 employees nationally will transfer to the new company, which will continue to trade under the Unipart Automotive brand.
Unipart Group, which has sales of more than £1bn, will focus on its core businesses – consulting, logistics and manufacturing services across automotive, rail, leisure, IT, telecoms, retail, and the public sector.
H2 is already involved in the automotive aftermarket through a controlling interest in Sator Holding a parts distributor in the Benelux, and Northern France.
To promote synergies between Sator and Unipart Automotive, H2 Equity Partners has created a new buying group called AP United, which will combine the purchasing volumes and ranges of both companies and improve efficiencies for both its suppliers as well as its members.
