CARMEL, Ind. -

It’s funny how things play out sometimes.

When Jim Hallett attended his first National Auto Auction Association convention, he took a shuttle from the airport to the hotel. Riding on that same bus was Larry Brasher, whose father Frank Brasher started what the family has developed into a multi-auction enterprise.

A few handfuls of years and conventions gone by, Hallett is now chief executive officer and chairman of the board at KAR Auction Services, whose ADESA business unit has signed a definitive agreement to purchase all eight of the Brasher’s auction locations.

That deal, announced Wednesday afternoon, expands ADESA’s footprint in the West, giving the auction group locations in three new states, those being Idaho, Oregon and Utah.

Among other areas of KAR’s business, the move was a popular topic during KAR’s quarterly earnings call on Thursday.

During the Q&A portion of the call, Bob Labrick of CJS Securities asked about how long KAR had been speaking with Brasher’s.

“Well, I can tell you, Bob, I’ve been speaking to Brasher’s for 20 years,” Hallet said, before briefly sharing his NAAA bus ride experience and noting the longstanding relationships the company has had with independent auctions like Brasher's and the initiatives on which they've worked together. 

And now, the latest step in that relationship with Brasher's should not only give ADESA an expanded Western presence, but help it make “inroads” for its buyer base and additional opportunities for other companies in the KAR family.

“We’ve been telling you for some time now that we’re focused on expanding our buyer base,” Hallett said. “And this makes great inroads to doing that for ADESA, with this acquisition. We’re also very, very focused on protecting and growing our online offerings, especially our private-label sites — which, you know, is an area that we dominate … and we expect to continue to have those private labels going forward.”

Hallett also emphasized this facilitates AFC establishing a presence in these markets, and for KAR to bring its ancillary services, as well. Like, for instance, the company’s logistics, inspection and dent removal services that it can integrate into the acquired locations.

“And as I speak of this, I haven’t even spoken to you about possible synergies that will take place once we’re fully integrated,” Hallett said.

“You can do the math. You’ve seen what the purchase price was. You’ve seen what the EBITDA on annual basis was, and calculated the multiple. We’ve believe that not only is this deal accretive, we believe it’s going to be a very attractive deal now and post-synergy, and a great addition for the ADESA business.”

Hallett said Brasher’s currently sells 190,000 vehicles per year, and that mix of dealer/commercial consignment is similar to ADESA. He also noted that “there isn’t really a major gap in either revenue per car or the number of online vehicles sold” between Brasher’s and ADESA.

In other words, it’s “nothing we don’t think we can’t bring up to our levels in a very short time period,” Hallett said.  

And KAR isn’t done making acquisitions this year, Hallett said. Several opportunities are on deck and “discussions are well underway,” he said, noting that they primarily center on the whole-car business. 

Later in the call, Hallett, discussing acquisitions further, said: “We’ve always maintained that there’s probably five to 10 really what I would call ‘plum’ opportunities – although we may have captured the biggest plum here.

“But there’s really five to 10 opportunities out there that if they became available and we could get these done at the multiples that we’ve maintained discipline around, then we’d be very much interested in acquiring those in the market that I’m talking about.”