Two current owners seek to take Penske Automotive private

Shares of Penske Automotive Group soared Wednesday in response to a takeover bid from the the company’s current two biggest owners.

Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A), which owns about 20.3% of Penske Automotive, and Penske Corporation, a privately-held company that owns about 52% of Penske Automotive, announced the bid to acquire the approximately 27.8% of Penske Automotive they do not already own. 

The deal, if completed, would make Penske Automotive a privately-held company.

At approximately 1 p.m., Penske Automotive (NYSE: PAG) was up 10.32% to $215.34. At that price, the stock was up about 23.4% in the last month and 26.2% for the last 52 weeks. 

The stock earlier in the day had hit a 52-week high at $218.63. Its 52-week low was $140.12 on March 20. 

The presence of two companies with the Penske name linked together can make untangling the ownership of Penske Automotive, and what it does, challenging.

Tracking the ownership

For example, the truck rental and leasing arm under Penske Automotive is Penske Truck Leasing. It is 28.9% owned by Penske Automotive, 41.1% owned by the privately-held Penske Corp., and 30% by Mitsui, according to the latest 10-K filing of Penske Automotive. 

Penske Automotive Group also operates Premier Truck Group, a truck dealership that primarily sells Freightliner and Western Star trucks, both subsidiaries of Daimler Truck North America. According to the 10-K, Premier Truck Group has 45 retail locations in 10 states and two Canadian provinces.

But the biggest part of the Penske Automotive operations is its automobile retail sales. The company said in its 10-K that it is “one of the largest global automotive retailers” with $27.5 billion in automotive dealership revenue last year. 

The company said in its 10-K that auto and truck dealerships accounted for 97.1% of revenue and 80.9% of earnings before taxes in 2025. It did not break down the split between automotive and truck dealerships.

Penske Automotive’s retail truck sales operation sold 15,709 units in 2025, down from 16,923 units in 2024.

A spokesman for Penske Automotive declined comment on several questions submitted by FreightWaves.

The offer price, announced overnight out of Japan, is $210 per share, putting a value on the company of $13.8 billion. The stock is not widely traded; in the 10-K, Penske Automotive reported there were just 228 holders of record in February.

At approximately 1:15 p.m., Penske Automotive had recorded trading volume of about 1.6 million shares. The average daily volume is 303,449.

Penske Automotive does pay a dividend of $1.42 per share, which was recently increased 2 cents to that level. That is about a 2.9% yield. 

Earning and call next week

Penske Automotive’s earnings and conference call with analysts are scheduled for the morning of July 29 for the numbers and the afternoon for the earnings call.

In the statement announcing the proposed offer, Mitsui said it had “supported PAG’s growth strategy since its initial investment in PAG in 2001, and over that time PAG has succeeded in diversifying its business domains from passenger vehicle retail only.”

“The automotive industry is experiencing a transformative period due to technological advancements,” the statement said. “To appropriately respond to these changes, the PC-Mitsui Investors aim to sustain current operational excellence while innovating and growing PAG’s business. Mitsui will support PAG’s business development and create collaborative projects by leveraging our comprehensive capabilities and network in cross-functional business domains, thereby enhancing PAG’s corporate value.”

Why this matters: The deal is not likely to have any significant changes in the operations of Penske Automotive. But it does mean a trucking-related company would be disappearing from public markets, and the two existing big shareholders may be taking these steps to implement a strategy that is not publicly obvious yet.

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