A Canadian auto parts company wants to expand its U.S. footprint, and it's purchasing a Roanoke business to make it happen.

Uni-Select said Thursday that it will buy Parts Depot, a distributor of automotive parts with its headquarters on Dale Avenue in Southeast Roanoke.

Uni-Select, based in Montreal, plans to purchase most of Parts Depot's operation, which includes nine regional distribution warehouses and 67 stores in nine states, including Virginia, North and South Carolina and Maryland.

Parts Depot will keep a Florida warehouse and store operations there, and it will retain its Roanoke office, said Richard Roy, president and chief executive officer of Uni-Select.

Parts Depot stores, doing business under the Bumper to Bumper name, cater to independent jobbers and installers.

The transaction is scheduled to be complete on Sept. 15. Roy would not disclose the terms of the deal.

Once the acquisition is complete, Parts Depot stores will be renamed Parts Plus or Auto Plus, two Uni-Select banners.

In a phone interview, Roy said there will not be layoffs at Parts Depot. The company employs 850 people across all of its distribution centers, stores and offices that are being acquired by Uni-Select, he said.

William Alexander, president and chief executive officer of Parts Depot, will become regional vice president for Uni-Select USA.

Alexander did not return calls for comment about the sale on Thursday.

"For us, it's a good addition to our U.S. operation," Roy said. "We don't foresee layoffs or that type of thing. We're buying to grow the business."

The Parts Depot acquisition will add annual sales of $180 million to Automotive Group USA, which is Uni-Select's U.S. division, according to a news release. Automotive Group had sales of $607 million in 2007.

Parts Depot's operations cover much of the mid-Atlantic region, where about 30 percent of all registered U.S. vehicles are located, according to the company's Web site.

Uni-Select claims to be Canada's second largest distributor of automotive replacement parts, equipment, tools and accessories. It has 30 distribution centers in the United States and 11 in Canada.

Uni-Select earned 4.7 percent less in 2007, compared with 2006, as a result of an unfavorable U.S. exchange rate, the company stated in a news release. Its net earnings were $40 million last year, compared with $42 million in 2006.

The company had sales of $1.2 billion in 2007.