On 1 November private equity firm One Rock Capital Partners LLC announced that it had completed the previously announced acquisition of the Eastman Chemical Company tyre additives business. Now the company is being renamed as Flexsys, a tribute to the legacy name of the business. The acquisition of Flexsys marks One Rock’s sixth corporate carve-out transaction in 2021.
After a turbulent few years, tyre industry supplier, Nynas AB has changed hands again signing a binding agreement with an investment vehicle managed by Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP for the acquisition of the entire equity stake (49.9%) in Nynas from Bitumina Industries Limited, making it the largest individual shareholder of Nynas.
Private equity firm One Equity Partners (OEP) reports making a “significant minority investment” in Italian workshop machinery and automotive solutions company Nexion S.p.A. Financial terms of the private transaction have not been disclosed.
Less than a year after Tirescanner.com was founded, at the start of November, the business reported that it is live in Florida. This means Tirescanner already covers 1200 postcodes codes, matching consumers with products from a range of hundreds of thousands of tyres and – crucially – connecting them with “the best local retailers”. At the moment this works on a next day install, but the plan is to take this to a same-day level. And more states are said to be coming fast. We’re used to pretty rapid progress when it comes to dotcom start-ups, but such fast growth is more understandable when you consider that Tirescanner is driven by Blackcircles.com founder Mike Welch. Tyres & Accessories recently caught up with Welch in order to find out how the company plans to continue and sustain this growth.
The private equity firm building up a European tyre distribution group through its acquisition of firms such as Fintyre and Reiff has made a significant investment in North America. Bain Capital reports its acquisition of a majority shareholding in US-based aftermarket tyre and parts distributor Dealer Tire, LLC. The interests of Lindsay Goldberg LLC, Dealer Tire’s investment partner since December 2014, will be acquired by Bain Capital Private Equity. The transaction is expected to close by December.
Birmingham-based Dunlop Aircraft Tyres Ltd (DATL) has confirmed that the company is looking for new investors. And this means that “initial discussions” with “a number of interested parties” are already underway.
According to the company’s executive chairman Ian Edmondson, the goal is to find a suitable partner to help the company continue to move forward at its current rate of positive growth: “Our shareholders are now seeking to find a new investor who is in a position to help the business maintain the outstanding growth record that it has delivered in recent years.”
Private equity firm Calculus Capital has invested £2.5 million in WheelRight Ltd, the tyre pressure monitoring company.
Richard Moore, Investment Director, Calculus Capital said: “We are very excited to invest in WheelRight and its market-leading, patented technology. The WheelRight sensor array provides a very hi-tech solution to a practical, every day problem. It will help to lower the costs of motoring, reduce the number of road accidents and limit carbon emissions. We are pleased to be able to support a leading UK technology company that has developed a product with significant global potential.”
Investment firm Audax Group has acquired Wheel Pros, LLC from Platinum Equity. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, Wheel Pros is a leading designer, marketer, and distributor of branded aftermarket wheels. The company also distributes performance tyres and accessories. Founded in 1995 with two distribution centres, the company today carries proprietary, leading brands that are recognized across all major vehicle segments and are sold through a national footprint of 25 distribution centres and internationally.
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