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Genuine Parts to split NAPA auto and Motion Industries into two firms in 2027
The company behind the NAPA parts network told investors the breakup should make each business easier to understand, and easier to value.
Genuine Parts Company (GPC) plans to split into two separate public companies in the first quarter of 2027, one focused on automotive parts and the other on industrial supplies. Management laid out the case on Tuesday, 3 November 2026, at the company's 50th Annual Automotive Symposium.
Chairman and CEO Will Stengel said the two units have different growth paths, customer needs and spending priorities, so one corporate roof fits neither well. The goal, he said, is "a simple, easy-to-understand story" for each. GPC has about 138 million shares outstanding, an equity value of roughly $18 billion and an enterprise value near $22 billion.
Breakups usually cost money, and this one is no exception. CFO and COO Bert Nappier put total costs at $100 million to $150 million. That covers $50 million to $75 million in lost efficiencies, known as dis-synergies, and another $50 million to $75 million to set up Motion Industries as a public company. He said spending is within the company's original guidance and that the work is on schedule, with a project office, weekly check-ins and tracking dashboards. A practice "dry run" of the separation is also planned before the formal split.
Management argues the split should be manageable because the two businesses already operate largely apart. They run on different enterprise software systems and share very few customer-facing staff. Costs will mostly come from renegotiating contracts, untangling systems and duplicating back-office functions.
The automotive side, which Court Carruthers is set to lead, is the part most drivers will recognize. GPC says it is the largest player in the U.S. professional and do-it-for-me repair segments. Its network includes 30,000 NAPA AutoCare locations worldwide, 18,000 of them in the U.S. It holds the top market share in Canada, Australia and New Zealand and ranks second in Europe, where it says it is growing faster than rivals. About half of its automotive revenue comes from outside the U.S.
Carruthers framed the business around speed. He described the "car on hoist" moment, when a mechanic has a vehicle in the air and needs the right part immediately, as a supply chain problem as much as a retail one. That is why modernizing distribution is the automotive unit's main priority. Management pointed to a newly modernized, highly automated distribution center in York, Pennsylvania. Motion Industries, by contrast, will lean on organic growth and acquisitions.
Both companies are aiming for investment-grade credit ratings and will share more detail at upcoming Investor Days. The remarks centered on investors and operations, so what the split means day to day for repair shops and drivers will depend on those later disclosures. Read the original report on Investing.com.
