Having recently rebranded as Fintyre Group, the European tyre distribution specialist reports that it is also implementing a leadership succession plan.
Mauro Pessi will continue to be involved as executive chairman. As a board member the company says he will contribute to the long-term strategic direction of the company, working in close cooperation with Bain Capital.
Pan-European tyre distributor European FinTyre Distribution (EfTD) has appointed Stephen Childs as its new group chief commercial officer, effective 3 June. Childs has 14 years’ experience in the tyre industry, including in-depth knowledge of marketing, pricing, gross margin management, inventory control, and supplier relations. His previous role was commercial director of European Tyre Enterprises Ltd, covering Stapleton’s Tyre Services and Kwik Fit in the UK.
European FinTyre Distribution (EfTD) has grown at a rate of knots since Bain Capital first acquired Italian tyre wholesaler Fintyre in the first quarter of 2017. At the time, Bain Capital Private Equity managing director Ivano Sessa stated his confidence in Fintyre’s “substantial growth potential both organically and through consolidation in a fragmented Italian and European tyre distribution market,” and later on the private equity fund put its money where its mouth was.
The last couple of years have been something of a whirlwind for the European Fintyre Distribution project, which has seen the business grow from a key player in the Italian market into a wider European operation with aspirations of being the leading force in pan-European tyre distribution and perhaps even beyond. Tyres & Accessories recently met with European Fintyre chief executive officer Mauro Pessi in order find out more about the company’s decision to base its central headquarters in London as well as its general, ongoing growth.
European finTyre Distribution (EFD) has been growing rapidly since its private equity owners Bain Capital backed the acquisition of Italian tyre wholesaler Fintyre back in March 2017. Since then the company has been on the acquisition trail, buying Pneusmarket and Franco Gomma in Italy as well as Reiff and most recently Reifen Krieg in Germany – all in order to build a “European tyre distribution group”. Tyres & Accessories recently spoke with Fintyre managing director Mauro Pessi and asked who’s next and what’s the exit plan?
Italian tyre wholesaler Fintyre has acquired its regional rival, La Genovese gomme. The European Fintyre Distribution Ltd company has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase the Sardinia-based wholesaler and retailer.
A further step towards consolidation within Europe’s tyre wholesaling sector has been taken with the European Commission approving the sale of Reiff Reifen und Autotechnik to US private equity fund Bain Capital Investors LLC. The new owner states its intention to become a regional leader within this business.
Further consolidation has taken place within the tyre trade, and Germany’s Reiff Reifen und Autotechnik will soon be a sister company to Italian tyre wholesaler Fintyre. London-based platform European Tyres Distribution Ltd., parent company of Fintyre, has entered into a binding agreement with Germany’s Reiff Group to acquire its tyre and car technology business area.
In response to a contracting market in 2013 and 2014, Italian wholesale giant Fintyre underwent a reorganisation, involving relocation north from Empoli to Seriate, Bergamo and a staff reduction of 60 employees. The overhaul of the company structure did not end there; it started a process in 2015, completed in late 2016, which has changed the face of Fintyre. This, it states, has consolidated its position as the leader of the Italian market with a share of around 25 per cent. In 2015, British investment firm BlueGem Capital Partners, which at that point held a 90 per cent share in Fintyre after its original 2009 investment, was recapitalised following a major financing agreement with GSO Capital Partners. The company then made two major acquisitions – Pneusmarket and Franco Gomme – which have helped to increase turnover from 255 million in 2014 to an estimate of more than 400 million euros in 2016.
The recent acquisition of Italian tyre distributor Franco Gomme by the country’s leading aftermarket tyre distributor, the Fintyre Group, is said to have pushed Fintyre into the ‘top five’ of Europe’s independent tyre distributors – the two firms’ combined turnover is expected to exceed €400 million in 2016. Through its acquisition of Franco Gomme, Fintyre aims to enhance its position the Italian market through increased coverage, more widespread distribution and new sales channels.
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