Newbury: BGC acquired by US company in deal advised by KPMG

OEConnection (OEC), the leading automotive technology provider for original equipment manufacturers' (OEM) distribution networks, has signed an agreement to acquire Bluegrasscoms (BGC), the Newbury-based automotive business consultancy and service provider focused on the collision and aftersales market segments.

Headquartered in Newbury, BGC streamlines key operations for its customers across Europe, with a strong focus on the collision industry. BGC's VISION software provides body shops with one-stop access to original equipment parts from OEMs, providing pricing, availability and backorder status. The union of OEC and BGC will allow OEC to provide the market-leading collision platform to current and prospective European OEM customers, with the goal of growing their collision and aftersales business.

As the auto industry's leading provider of SaaS-based solutions for original equipment parts, OEC is known for its data management, ecommerce, pricing, supply chain, cataloging, service and business intelligence solutions, across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. 

"Bluegrasscoms extends the OEC footprint and will help us grow both in the depth and breadth of our offerings with new and existing customers", remarked Chuck Rotuno, OEC chairman & CEO. "We look forward to working closely with Stuart and the BGC team to support the global needs of our OEM, dealer and repair facility customers."

"Whilst BGC is recognised as the leading collision and aftersales service provider in the UK, working with Chuck and his OEC management team will provide us with a strong platform to further accelerate our European expansion," added Stuart Bartlett, Bluegrasscoms CEO. "We are excited to be joining OEC and look forward to providing an enhanced suite of solutions to our collision and aftersales customers."

OEC will continue to operate from its numerous offices internationally and will maintain its global headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, European headquarters in Chelmsford and the BGC office in Newbury.

KPMG provided advice to the BGC shareholders across corporate finance (led by Sami Fairris), legal services (led by Emma Gibson) and tax (led by David Furness).

Fairris said: “I am delighted to have advised Bluegrasscoms (BGC) on this deal, which delivered an excellent outcome for the shareholders.  Interestingly, in advance of my first meeting with Stuart, I leveraged both our International KPMG colleagues and UK Sector (AutoTech) specialists to identify potential strategic buyers for BGC – OEC was the clear number one, having the perfect commercial fit.  When I met Stuart, he agreed and it’s rewarding to see that we both turned out to be right.

“It’s an exciting time for our M&A practice in Reading, coming off the back of the Peter Brett Associates and Amazon Filters transactions in the past month, our local deal activity is firing on all cylinders and we’re very excited about our ever growing pipeline of local deals.

“We wish Stuart and the rest of the BGC team every success in their exciting European expansion plans as part of the international OEC family.”