Warren Buffett buys David Maus auto dealers

Oct. 03--The David Maus family of auto dealerships has been sold to Warren Buffett'sBerkshire Hathaway, officials said Thursday.

Buffett's mammoth multinational corporation has agreed to buy the Van Tuyl Group, the fifth-largest largest auto-dealership group in the country, according to a joint news release. The private Van Tuyl Group owns the Maus dealerships.

The new company will be known as Berkshire Hathaway Automotive, with headquarters in Dallas.

It was unclear Thursday whether the David Maus name would change. Terms of the deal were not revealed.

An analyst for S&P Capital IQ in New York said Berkshire Hathaway's historical strategy is to acquire companies that have strong finances and management and make few changes.

"For all intents and purposes, it will probably be business as usual," Cathy Seifert said.

This is Berkshire Hathaway's first foray into buying auto dealerships outright, Seifert said.

In Central Florida, the David Maus group includes four Toyota-Scion, Chevrolet and Volkswagen dealerships in Orlando and Sanford. In South Florida, Toyota and Scion of Deerfield Beach and Delray Honda are included in the sale.

The dealerships are known for commercials featuring Maus pointing at the camera with two index figures and saying, "Whatever it takes." He could not be reached for comment.

Local dealerships referred questions to Van Tuyl's corporate headquarters. Officials there did not respond to requests for comment.

The sale, contingent upon regulatory approval and consent of the auto manufacturers, is expected to go through in the first quarter of next year.

Van Tuyl Group has more than $8 billion in revenue and 78 independently operated dealerships with more than 100 franchises in Florida, Georgia and eight other states.

Berkshire Hathaway subsidiaries include GEICO auto insurance, Fruit of the Loom, Heinz, Dairy Queen and See's Candies. The company in the past couple of years has bought dozens of small U.S. newspapers.

[email protected] or 407-540-5981

___

(c)2014 The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.)

Visit The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.) at www.OrlandoSentinel.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services