TDR acquires IMO Car Wash

TDR invested via its €2bn TDR Capital III vehicle. The first investment from this fund was David Lloyd Leisure in November 2013.

The fresh capital will be used to support the company's acquisitive growth strategy, develop new sites, and carry out IMO's refurbishment programme of existing sites. The transaction is the result of two years of negotiations. 

Previous investment
IMO has a long history of private equity ownership, having been first backed by JP Morgan Partners in 2004, in a £350m deal. 

In February 2006, Carlyle bought the car wash company in a secondary buyout. However, in March 2009, IMO defaulted on its loans when it was unable to meet interest repayments and ultimately breached its financial covenants. At the time of the default, IMO owed £313m to senior lenders and a further £119m to junior lenders, according to unquote" data. Carlyle was forced to write off its investment in the company. 

Company
Established in 1965 in Germany, today IMO operates 834 car wash sites across 13 countries. The majority of its sites (323) are in Germany, with 280 in the UK and the remainder located across Europe and Australia. The company trades as ARC in the UK.

IMO uses conveyor technology for car washing, with cars washed in less than two minutes and up to four cars cleaned at one time. The car washing systems use soft clean brushes and biodegradable chemicals.

People
Mike Smith is executive chairman of IMO. Jonathan Rosen is partner at TDR.

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• UK / Ireland
• TDR Capital