JPMorgan Partners Sells IMO Car Wash Group to The Carlyle Group

London – Global private equity firm The Carlyle Group today announces it has agreed to acquire IMO Car Wash Group from JPMorgan Partners, a leading private equity firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.

IMO Car Wash Group, which was acquired by JPMorgan Partners in January 2004, is the world’s largest car wash company. IMO manages 857 car wash sites in Europe and washes over 34 million cars each year. It is both the European and global market leader of car washing companies. The company operates conveyor system car washes which can clean 90 cars an hour. IMO has a strong presence in thirteen countries across Europe, including the UK and Germany, as well as France, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Portugal, and Eastern Europe.

Andrew Burgess, Managing Director, The Carlyle Group said, "We are delighted to be acquiring IMO Car Wash. The company has consistently demonstrated strong growth over the past 15 years and we believe there are significant further growth opportunities across Europe."

Stephen Welton, Partner at JPMorgan Partners said, "IMO is a highly successful pan European service operation which we have actively grown under our ownership in terms of sites opened or under development, making IMO a very successful investment for JPMorgan Partners."

Bret Holden, CEO of IMO Car Wash said, "We have enjoyed working with JPMorgan Partners over the past two years and are looking forward to being able to further develop the business with our new partners. We believe Carlyle will be well positioned to help IMO ramp up growth and further expand the business geographically."

The Carlyle Group is investing in IMO Car Wash through its European buyout fund, Carlyle Europe Partners II, a €1.8 billion fund. This is the ninth investment for the fund.

Carlyle was advised by Latham & Watkins, KPMG and BNP Paribas. Debt financing was provided by Bank of Scotland. The existing shareholders of IMO Car Wash were advised by Linklaters.