CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Driven Brands Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: DRVN) announced the acquisition of 18 Frank’s Car Wash Express stores in South Carolina, according to a press release.
This acquisition is the largest carwash tuck-in acquisition for Driven Brands to date and follows the 10 recently acquired Racer Classic Car Washes in Texas in May.
Including these two acquisitions, Driven Brands has acquired a total of 50 car washes in 2021.
Since acquiring International Car Wash Group in August 2020, Driven Brands has acquired 67 carwashes.
“We’ve been extremely pleased with the performance of the carwash segment within the Driven Brands portfolio,” said Jonathan Fitzpatrick, president and CEO of Driven Brands. “In this highly fragmented industry, our expansion efforts are just getting started. While we continue to build new carwashes, this acquisition strategy complements our efforts to bring the power of Driven Brands to carwashes across North America.”
Frank’s Car Wash Express has washed more than 14 million cars since 1973, and “The State” newspaper has voted Frank’s the “best” carwash for 26 years in a row.
It has 18 locations from the South Carolina midlands extending toward the coast.
“The family and I are excited about this opportunity to partner with Driven Brands to build upon the legacy my father Frank started in 1973,” said Mike Hutchins, former owner of Frank’s Car Wash Express. “For the past 48 years, we have strived for excellence, and we are very happy that Driven Brands shares this same vision and standards. Although this decision was not an easy one, I knew from day one that Driven Brands was the right fit to continue the reputation as the premier carwash company in South Carolina.”
Driven Brands now operates nearly 1,000 car washes in 14 countries across the U.S., Europe and Australia.
Read about the top 100 carwash M&A deals here.
