US-based Global Parts Company is expanding in the collision repair sector with the acquisition of a business that operates five distribution centres across Australia.

The company’s Australian subsidiary, GPC Asia Pacific, last week completed the purchase of Auto Parts Group (APG), which supplies genuine, certified and aftermarket vehicle collision repair parts.

GPC Asia Pacific will operate APG as a dedicated collision repair division alongside its existing businesses, which include Repco, NAPA, Rare Spares, Sparesbox and AMX Super Stores.

“Acquiring APG is a natural extension of GPC Asia Pacific’s current operations,” MD and CEO Rob Cameron said. “It enables us to extend into a large and resilient sector of the automotive industry, one that has favourable tailwinds and which will benefit from GPC’s global scale and capabilities.”

APG, founded by Stephen Campbell, supplies more than 47,000 product lines to about 3500 repairers. It opened its newest distribution centre in the Melbourne suburb of Broadmeadows in June.  

James Knox will continue to lead the business as EGM and will become a member of GPC Asia Pacific’s automotive leadership team.