Wheel Pros, a portfolio company of Clearlake Capital Group, has acquired TeraFlex, a designer, manufacturer and distributor of aftermarket parts for the automotive and off-road end markets.
West Jordan, Utah-based TeraFlex designs, manufactures and distributes a variety of aftermarket parts for Jeep vehicles including suspensions, shocks, dampers, steering, and axles. The company serves its over 1,250 dealers and over 500 customers through its three U.S. facilities, producing 3,470 individual products across 24 core product verticals. TeraFlex is led by Founder and CEO Mark Falkner, President Benjamin Falkner, and VP of Organizational Development Ian Falkner, all of whom will remain with the company.“We’re excited to join the Wheel Pros organization and leverage their design expertise, scale and operational footprint to accelerate growth,” said Mr. Falkner. “We believe we can expand on Wheel Pros’ existing footprint in the suspension category, and together, provide automotive enthusiasts with access to a larger suite of aftermarket vehicle enhancements. We look forward to embarking on this next chapter of combined growth.”
Wheel Pros is a designer, marketer, and distributor of more than two dozen branded automotive aftermarket wheels, performance tires, and accessories. The company’s products are distributed through 30 distribution centers across the United States, Canada, and Australia. Wheel Pros was founded in 1995 and is headquartered near Denver in Greenwood Village, Colorado. The company was previously owned by Platinum Equity before being sold in 2014 to Audax. Clearlake acquired Wheel Pros in March 2018 from Audax.
“TeraFlex has built an impressive suite of brands and products in the suspension and shock categories that complement our offerings in lift kits extremely well,” said Randy White, co-founder and CEO. “We are excited to partner with Mark, Ben, Ian and the broader TeraFlex team to scale our combined business and continue to expand our suite of aftermarket vehicle enhancements for automotive and off-roading enthusiasts.”
Wheel Pros previously acquired Performance Replicas (November 2020) and Amcor Industries (June 2018) while under Clearlake, and while owned by Audax the company acquired American Force Wheels (September 2017). Wheel Pros also acquired an Auburn, Alabama manufacturing facility from German wheel manufacturer Borbet in August 2020.
Clearlake invests in industrials and energy, software and technology-enabled services, and consumer sectors. The firm was co-founded by José Feliciano and Behdad Eghbali in 2006 and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California with an additional office in Dallas, Texas.
“The talented TeraFlex team has created a high growth platform with a robust suite of brands in the aftermarket suspension and shock categories,” said Mr. Feliciano and Colin Leonard, a partner at Clearlake in a released statement. “We look forward to expanding the product breadth and distribution footprint of the combined Wheel Pros platform through increased investment and by utilizing our O.P.S. (operations, people and strategy) framework to better serve automotive and off-roading enthusiasts.”
In April 2020, Clearlake held a hard cap and oversubscribed final close of its sixth private equity fund, Clearlake Capital Partners VI LP, with more than $7 billion