HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Houston-based Leslie Doggett Industries through its Doggett Truck Group has acquired privately-held Truck Centers of Arkansas, giving Doggett distribution rights for all Freightliner and Western Star branded trucks and parts for most counties in the State of Arkansas with full service sales and leasing dealerships in Little Rock, Fayetteville and Van Buren. Doggett will operate these dealerships under the name Doggett Freightliner of Arkansas. Sources familiar with the transaction report the purchase price to be $103+ million. Doggett’s General Counsel, William Doggett, said, “the Doggett Truck Group, headed by Paul Burk, will bring a new intensity to the Arkansas dealerships. We have a long history of buying companies and dramatically improving morale, processes, and market share growth, all through a laser focus on customer service. This acquisition is particularly exciting for Doggett, because we know exactly how to improve these dealerships.”
VP of the Doggett Truck Group, Paul Burk, said, “Doggett was honored by Successful Dealer Magazine as one of the top three dealership groups in the USA, which we are very proud of. Our new Arkansas group is eager to implement those same initiatives and processes that have made Doggett successful and have been the foundation of our dynamic growth.”
Freightliner is the North American brand for the world’s largest truck maker, Daimler Benz Trucks (German Exchange - ETR:DAI). Freightliner is North America’s largest highway (18-wheeler) and vocational truck manufacturer with an unprecedented 42% market share being roughly three times larger than its closest competitors, Kenworth and Peterbilt, both of which have less than 16% share.
Doggett is a Houston-based diversified heavy equipment dealer for six first-tier manufacturers (www.DOGGETT.com) that are either number 1 or 2 in their respective industries: John Deere construction and forestry equipment (18 dealerships), Toyota industrial equipment - forklifts & material handling (7 dealerships), Freightliner on-highway and vocational trucks (7 dealerships), Link Belt cranes (4 dealerships) and a Ford auto dealership.
This acquisition, on the heels of Doggett’s purchase last week of one of Houston’s oldest and largest Ford dealerships, Lone Star Ford, boosts Doggett’s full-service dealership count to 37 which are located throughout Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico and Chihuahua, Mexico.
About Leslie Doggett Industries
Doggett, founded by Leslie Doggett and Brady Carruth in 1993 with 17 employees, was ranked by the Houston Chronicle in 2017 as Houston’s 10th largest private company with annual sales exceeding US $1 billion and 1300+ full-time employees including 500+ factory trained and certified, highly professional technicians. Doggett is a family-owned heavy equipment, highway truck and automotive dealership group without outside investment.
