Genuine Parts Company Completes 30% Investment in Australasia's Exego Group

ATLANTA, Jan. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Genuine Parts Company (NYSE: GPC) announced today that it has completed the purchase of a 30% stake in the Exego Group for approximately $150 million (US$) in cash, effective January 1, 2012.  The Company had previously announced the pending agreement to invest in Exego on September 26, 2011. 

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Exego Group, headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, is a leading aftermarket distributor of automotive replacement parts and accessories in Australasia, with annual revenues of approximately $1 billion (US$) and a company-owned store footprint of more than 430 locations across Australia and New Zealand.

Forward Looking Statements

Some statements in this report, as well as in other materials we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or otherwise release to the public and in materials that we make available on our website, constitute forward-looking statements that are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Senior officers may also make verbal statements to analysts, investors, the media and others that are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements may relate, for example, to future operations, prospects, strategies, financial condition, economic performance (including growth and earnings), industry conditions and demand for products and services. The Company cautions that its forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, and while we believe that our expectations for the future are reasonable in view of currently available information, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Actual results or events may differ materially from those indicated as a result of various important factors. Such factors may include, among other things, slowing demand for the Company's and Exego's products and services, changes in general economic conditions, including, unemployment, inflation or deflation, high energy costs, uncertain credit, foreign exchange and international markets and other macro-economic conditions, the ability to maintain favorable vendor arrangements and relationships, disruptions in vendors' operations, competitive product, service and pricing pressures, the Company's and Exego's ability to successfully implement their respective business strategies, the uncertainties and costs of litigation, as well as other risks and uncertainties discussed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2010 and from time to time in the Company's subsequent filings with the SEC.

Forward-looking statements are only as of the date they are made, and the Company undertakes no duty to update its forward-looking statements except as required by law. You are advised, however, to review any further disclosures we make on related subjects in our subsequent Forms 10-K, 10-Q, Form 8-K and other reports to the SEC.

About Genuine Parts Company

Genuine Parts Company is a distributor of automotive replacement parts in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The Company also distributes industrial replacement parts in the U.S., Canada and Mexico through its Motion Industries subsidiary.  S.P. Richards Company, the Office Products Group, distributes business products nationwide in the U.S. and Canada. The Electrical/Electronic Group, EIS, Inc., distributes electrical and electronic components throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Genuine Parts Company had 2010 revenues of $11.2 billion.

SOURCE Genuine Parts Company