ICWG

Providing capital for growth

World’s largest local car wash conglomerate washing more than 35 million cars a year through a network of c. 900 locations in 14 countries across Europe, the US, and Australia.

ICWG is focused on delivering consistent car wash quality for the customer. Caring for the environment is also high on the agenda for ICWG. The company recycles at least 75% of its water, using only chemicals that are biodegradable and removing all harmful deposits from wastewater before disposing of them through environmentally approved contractors.

  • At a glance
  • Status: Realised
  • Exit Type: Financial Buyer
  • Deal Type: Private Sale
  • Sector: Consumer Services
  • Exit Date: October 2017
  • Initial Investment Date: July 2014
  • Website: www.icwg.com

Transaction

We began following ICWG in 2008 and spent time getting to know the management team, monitoring the business, understanding the wider market and developing our investment thesis.

As a result of our relationship with management, our insight into the business and our experience owning multi-site, consumer-facing businesses, we were able to position ourselves as a credible buyer that could deliver a quick transaction for the vendors. These bilateral negotiations resulted in the acquisition of ICWG in July 2014.

We were attracted to the investment by the stability of the business, strong cash flow conversion and the opportunity for re-investing cashflows into new site opportunities and accretive M&A in the fragmented US market.

During TDR’s investment

Transformation into a fast-growing international consolidation platform, through investment in a significant refurbishment and newbuild programme and accretive acquisitions in new geographies.
  • ICWG completed 12 acquisitions in the US, significantly growing the scale and revenues of the group
  • We launched a refurbishment and newbuild programme in order to refresh the existing estate in Europe, opening over 50 new sites as well as refurbishing close to 200 existing sites and delivering a strong uplift in earnings
  • In October 2017, following a competitive sale process, we completed the sale of ICWG to Roark Capital
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