Turbo Wholesale Tires, backed by Kingswood Capital Management LP, has acquired Tire Wholesalers Inc. (TWI), a Michigan-based distributor.
As part of the deal, the Kogel family, Tire Wholesalers' former owners, have become partial owners of the combined business, alongside Kingswood and the Sepetjian family.
Ross Kogel Jr. has been named the company's chief operating officer. Tire Wholesalers' founder, Ross Kogel Sr., will serve in an advisory role.
The firm's combined management team will report to Turbo CEO Phillip Kane.
"Turbo plans to retain TWI's name, locations, employees and ways of doing business," say Turbo officials.
Founded in 1970, TWI is one of the largest independent tire distributors in the Midwest. The company operates out of five locations, including three in Michigan, one in the metro Chicago, Ill., area and one in Salt Lake City, Utah.
TWI recently expanded its 100,000-square-foot metro Detroit, Mich., facility into a new, technology-enabled, 275,000-square-foot distribution center. This facility will be used as a template for new locations as the company enters additional markets.
"We are thrilled to be partnering with Turbo and Kingswood," say the Kogels. "The corporate cultures, functional strengths, geographies and brand relationships of the two companies are highly complementary and Kingswood has an impressive track record of partnering with and supporting family- and founder-owned businesses.
"We look forward to working with Phillip Kane and the rest of the combined management team to ensure that our customers are the biggest beneficiaries of this combination."
"The opportunity to combine Turbo and TWI is exciting for both organizations," says Kane. "TWI's expansion across the Midwest and beyond has been impressive, but more importantly, the high level of service they deliver to their customers and the way they care for their employees aligns perfectly with our values and priorities at Turbo.
"This combination will give our existing customers at both TWI and Turbo access to more brands, products, fulfillment options, support resources and dealer program benefits."
"We are excited to partner with the Kogel family and the team at TWI as we build upon the success and momentum we have achieved at Turbo in our pursuit of growing a differentiated, global tire distribution platform," says Michael Niegsch, partner of Kingswood. "The addition of Ross as our chief operating officer, along with the other strong operators at TWI, adds even more capabilities to our talented management team."
In addition, Cerberus Business Finance expanded the company's existing debt facility to support the acquisition and increase capacity for further growth. (McDermott Will & Emery LLP advised Turbo on the transaction. Honigman LLP and P&M Corporate Finance advised TWI on the transaction.)
