Auction Veterans Establish Acacia Automotive

By Chris Hubbard, Staff Writer
November 06, 2006

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SAN DIEGO -- Two veteran auction executives recently teamed up to establish a new corporate player in the industry -- Acacia Automotive.

Steve "Junior" Sample and Tony Moorby -- both of whom have worked for auction giants Manheim and ADESA -- announced the new company, Acacia Automotive, at the National Remarketing Conference last week.

Sample, who will serve as Acacia's chairman and chief executive officer, said the company plans to acquire three to four auctions in 2007 and to continue acquiring in future years.

Sample and Moorby said they are seeking to buy midsize auctions with strong dealer-promoted business bases and opportunities to expand through the infusion of fleet units and other vehicles. Acacia has some specific acquisition targets, but Securities and Exchange Commission rules prohibit negotiations until Acacia completes its initial fundraising, Sample said.

Moorby -- who will serve as president and chief operating officer -- said there is an assumption that all the best auctions either belong to a chain or are staunchly independent.

"I don't believe that's true," Moorby said. "I think that operators with an exquisite local knowledge acting as a group with a national overview can be to the benefit of buyers and sellers, staff and shareholders. We're all in this together and can act like it without taking away individuality. More auctions bring horizontal geographic growth and better auctions provide the vertical service growth."

Sample spent 15 years with ADT Automotive (formerly Anglo-American Automotive), Manheim and ADESA. He has been preparing for the Acacia launch for the past two years, he said. Moorby served as president of ADT Automotive before it was purchased by Manheim. He also has worked for ADESA.

Most recently, Moorby joined the board of directors of 3D Automotive Management in August, but resigned when he accepted the Acacia challenge, Sample said.

"Tony brings everything you could possibly hope for in the leadership qualities that are necessary to be successful in a major venture of this nature," Sample said.

As a means for fundraising, Acacia took control of a public company with no assets or liabilities that emerged from bankruptcy in June, Sample said.

"It was really just a public shell," Sample said. "It gives us a vehicle to use to launch our new plan."

Acacia's stock will sell on the Over the Counter bulletin, Sample said, stressing that Acacia will be a full-reporting company to the SEC, setting the stage for an eventual move to NASDAQ.

"It will be our hope to move up to NASDAQ once we meet the requirements to do so," he said.

Acacia will begin trading once it receives a new trading symbol, Sample said. The company will apply for the symbol after shareholders ratify the changes to the company's structure in a meeting later this month, he concluded.

Auction/Wholesale