Bradshaw Automotive Group sold to North Carolina company.

• Position: Anderson Automotive Group

Bradshaw Automotive Group, founded by William Bradshaw 43 years ago, has sold its assets to the Anderson Automotive Group of North Carolina.

The transaction closed Jan. 30. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in Greer in 1979 and built with the goal of treating customers and employees as family, Bradshaw Automotive grew into the preeminent auto dealership brand in the Upstate with more than 400 employees and Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC, Acura, Honda, Mazda and Infiniti dealerships, a news release stated.

William Donovan, Bradshaw's son-in-law, joined the family business in 1998 and later became manager of Import Operations, according to the release. Bradshaw's son, Wes, came on board in 1999 upon graduation from college. Wes later assumed management of Domestic Operations, reaffirming the family approach that has existed since the establishment of the business.

Bradshaw has been influential at local, state and national levels of automobile marketing and servicing throughout his career, the release stated. He served as chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association, a trade organization representing 16,000-plus franchised foreign and domestic automobile dealers before Congress, federal agencies, the media and the public.

A third-generation family-owned business founded in 1955 with a Chevrolet dealership in Waynesville, N.C., Anderson Automotive has grown to one of the largest auto groups in the Southeast with approximately 1,000 employees, according to the release. It is comprised of eight Toyota, Nissan, Subaru and Kia dealerships in Raleigh, Asheville and Sanford, North Carolina, and Charleston.

Bradshaw said the economic realities of the automotive industry necessitated continued expansion and that the best opportunity for success rested with an automotive group that had the same core values and business philosophies coupled with the scale to achieve growth, according to the release.

"Like Bradshaw Automotive, Anderson Automotive is a family-owned business that shares our dedication to giving back to the community," Bradshaw said in the release. "Their commitment to our 400...