Carousel Capital has acquired Quality Automotive Services (QAS), a provider of oil changes and other automotive preventative maintenance services.
QAS is a part of the Valvoline Instant Oil Changes (VIOC) system, which provides franchised businesses access to Valvoline products. Charlotte, North Carolina-headquartered QAS, led by CEO Matt McKeown, was founded in 2001 by Andrew Slattery, and is VIOC’s third-largest franchise with 114 stores across 11 states.
Shortly after the closing of the acquisition, QAS added on with the buys of Colorado-based Superior Lube and Kentucky-based SteelToe Group. These add-ons expanded QAS’ operations and development rights to South Carolina, Georgia, Western Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana.
“We are excited to have accelerated the execution of our strategic plan so quickly after partnering with Carousel,” said Mr. McKeown. “Their extensive experience partnering with market-leading multi-location automotive service platforms has been invaluable in helping to take QAS’ growth trajectory to the next level.”
Carousel invests in non-cyclical and growth-oriented companies headquartered in the southeastern United States. Typical targets will have enterprise values of up to $200 million and EBITDA of at least $3 million. Sectors of specific interest include business, consumer and healthcare services. Carousel was founded in 1996 and is led by managing partners Charles Grigg and Jason Schmidly.
“We are impressed with the great job that Andrew Slattery and Matt McKeown have done in building the fastest-growing franchisee within the best-in-class VIOC system,” said Peter Clark, a partner at Carousel. “VIOC is a people-first, results-driven organization with an extraordinary track record of results — traits Carousel Capital shares with the brand. The VIOC SuperPro operating model and its ability to leverage data and technology has helped to deliver 15 years of same-store sales growth.”
The buy of QAS is the second by Carousel’s sixth fund, Carousel Capital Partners VI LP, which closed in November 2020 at its hard cap of $700 million. The first investment from the fund was the July 2021 acquisition of Legacy Data Access, a Georgia-based provider of data lifecycle management services to operators in the healthcare sector.
Antares Capital provided senior debt for the acquisition of QAS.
© 2022 Private Equity Professional | May 24, 2022
