The Penske Automotive Group, Inc. has signed an agreement to acquire the Commercial Vehicles Group from Transpacific Industries Group Ltd. for a purchase price of $219 million. The completion of the transaction is subject to normal closing conditions and is expected to occur by the end of the third quarter 2013.

The Commercial Vehicle Group is the exclusive importer and distributor of Western Star trucks, MAN trucks, MAN buses and Dennis Eagle trucks for Australia and New Zealand. The Commercial Vehicles Group has a network of 65 dealers across Australia and 16 dealers across New Zealand, and provides full authorised parts, service and warranty functions for the three brands. The group also has dealer representation in Papua New Guinea, Philippines and Indonesia.

Penske Automotive, headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, currently operates 332 retail automotive franchises, representing 39 different brands and 30 collision repair centres. It sells new and previously owned vehicles, finance and insurance products and replacement parts, and offers maintenance and repair services on all brands it represents. In 2012, Penske Automotive retailed and wholesaled more than 402,000 vehicles, with 64% of total revenues generated in the US and Puerto Rico and 36% generated outside the US. Premium brands, such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche represented 70% of retail revenue in 2012.

Penske Automotive is the second largest automotive retailer headquartered in the United States, as measured by the $13.2 billion USD in total revenue generated in 2012. Penske Automotive is a member of the Fortune 500 and Russell 2000 and has approximately 16,700 employees.

Penske Automotive has a wide and varied experience with commercial vehicles through its ownership interest in Penske Truck Leasing, a leading provider of transportation services and supply chain management. Penske Truck Leasing operates and maintains more than 200,000 vehicles and services customers in North America, South America, Europe and Asia and is one of the largest purchasers of commercial trucks in North America. Product lines include full-service truck leasing, truck rental and contract maintenance, logistics services such as dedicated contract carriage, distribution centre management, transportation management and acting as lead logistics provider.