NatWest Equity Partners Mops Up IMO Car Wash Group

The French family owners of IMO Car Wash Group in December sold the company to NatWest Equity Partners (NWEP) in an institutional buyout valued at GBP138 million (euro 201 million). IMO Car Wash Group is the largest conveyor car wash business in Europe, with more than 400 sites on the Continent and in the UK.

Reflecting the highly international nature of the company, most of NWEP’s European offices were involved in the deal and a portion of the funding package was structured in euros. Paribas arranged banking facilities for the buyout.

IMO has continuously developed its conveyor car wash system during the past 30 years. Its systems permit as many as four cars to be drawn simultaneously through the machine by a continually rotating chain, unlike rollover car washes, which handle only one vehicle at a time. Using the IMO system, it is also possible to recycle as much as 95% of the water used by the car wash, a feature that allows IMO car washes to remain open during periods of drought, while conventional car washes are often closed by water authorities.

IMO’s management team is led by joint group chief executives Franaois Ordinaire, who has worked at IMO for nearly 30 years and is also managing director of the Continental business, and Alexander Russell, who joined IMO 19 years ago, and heads the group’s UK operations. Jacques Teisserenc, IMO’s longest-serving employee, is group deputy chairman. Together, the managers have invested for a 20% holding in the company.

Alexander Russell said the group plans an expansion programme that will involve the introduction of a new category of upgraded site as well as increasing the pipeline of new sites for both existing and new markets. The NWEP funding package included facilities to support expansion and upgrading of IMO’s site portfolio.