A father sold his company to a two-person business partnership team that includes his son, who will become CEO.
The deal included eight new franchised dealerships, two used-car operations and a Jaguar service center, in Iowa.
Driving the news: Rich Willis, owner of Willis Automotive, sold the Iowa-based company to his son Jason Willis, and partner Collin Sewell of the Sewell Family of Cos, in an Oct. 27 deal.
For context: The store names and locations will remain the same.
Included were all of the following in Clive, Iowa, though the mailing address is Des Moines:
Willis Lexus
Willis Volvo Cars
Land Rover Des Moines
Willis Cadillac
Willis INFINITI
Mini of Des Moines
Jaguar Des Moines (service center)
Volvo and Land Rover share a building with the Jaguar service center, and Cadillac and Lexus share another building.
Willis Pre-Owned and Willis Nissan, both in Urbandale, Iowa; Willis Chevrolet in Granger, Iowa, and another pre-owned store in Waukee, Iowa, were also part of the sale.
History matters: Willis Automotive’s roots date back to 1947, when Charles H. Betts Sr. founded Betts Cadillac-Oldsmobile in Des Moines, according to Performance Brokerage Services, which represented the sellers.
Rich Willis joined the business in 1972 and began buying out the Betts family in 1988. The Betts Auto Campus became the Willis Auto Campus in 2008.
Rich Willis moved to the area to attend Simpson College, Matt Willis, of Performance Brokerage, told CDG News.
“And during that time, he started washing cars and detailing cars with Chuck Betts, and all these years later, he [owned] the store,” Matt Willis said.
(Matt Willis knows that because Rich is his Dad and he used to work for the family business, too, for about 25 years. He entered the advisory side about three years ago.)
Worth noting: Collin Sewell, who purchased a majority financial stake in the company, comes from the Sewell family, which has been in auto retail since 1911. (Willis Automotive will remain independent and separate from the Sewell Family of Cos., per a news release.)
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What they’re saying: “We knew it was going to be somebody that wanted to … keep kind of a family business mindset, and so he became the perfect buyer for it,” Matt Willis said of Sewell.
Strategic note: Sewell’s goal is to keep the executive team and employees in place, Matt Willis said.
Rich Willis, who had been chairman of the board, is now fully retired and will stay busy with charitable work in the community, where he’s on a lot of boards, his son said.
“I think it’s everybody’s dream is to to work and build something really, really big, and then retire with the confidence that the next guy is going to take care of everything you build,” Matt Willis said.
You can see this deal announcement and many more throughout the year by visiting the CDG Buy/Sell tracker at CDGbuysell.com, presented by The Presidio Group.
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