Auto auctioneer invests big in tech as sales go online
KAR Auction Services Inc. expects to spend as much as $125 million on technology this year as its focus continues to shift to the Web and apps.
KAR Auction Services Inc. expects to spend as much as $125 million on technology this year as its focus continues to shift to the Web and apps.
KAR Auction Services Inc. said Monday that there will be a secondary offering of 13 million shares of its common stock.
Wholesale used vehicle prices fell 3.6 percent, to $9,893 on average, in June compared with the same month of 2011, according to data compiled by Tom Kontos, an executive at Carmel-based wholesale auction chain Adesa Inc.
Adesa said it plans to acquire Redwood City, Calif.-based OpenLane Inc. for $210 million in cash. OpenLane expects to sell more than 300,000 vehicles to dealers this year and generate about $100 million in revenue.
The parent company of the Adesa auto auction firm more than quadrupled its first-quarter profit on revenue that increased 5 percent.
Carmel-based KAR Auction Services Inc. announced Wednesday that it pulled in profit of $7.3 million in the three months ended Dec. 31, a 38-percent jump from the $5.3 million earned in the same quarter the prior year.
KAR Auction Services Inc. announced Monday night that it plans to expand its Carmel headquarters, creating up to 249 jobs by 2015.
The auction company had revenue of $445.3 million in the quarter ended Sept. 30, a 4-percent increase from same quarter of 2009. Profit tripled, to $25.6 million.
Less than two years after being driven out of Adesa Inc. as unceremoniously as a Buick down its auction lanes, James Hallett
is back behind the wheel of the nation’s No. 2 wholesale vehicle-auction company.
Announcements that major Indiana companies have been acquired are traditionally met with trepidation. But a rash of recent
buyouts of Indiana companies shows they’re not always bad news.