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 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-plus million, according to an announcement.
Doggett’s General Counsel William Doggett says, “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.”
Doggett Truck Group Vice President Paul Burk, says, “Doggett was honored by Successful Dealer as one of the top three dealership groups in the U.S., 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.”
Houston-based Doggett is a diversified heavy equipment dealer for six first-tier manufacturers that are either Nos. 1 or 2 in their respective industries: John Deere construction and forestry equipment (18 dealerships), Toyota industrial equipment – forklifts and 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.
