Gridiron Capital Completes Sale of Dent Wizard to Dealer Tire
New Canaan, CT, February 6, 2020 – Gridiron Capital, LLC (“Gridiron”), a leading investment firm focused on partnering with founders, entrepreneurs, and management teams, is pleased to announce the completion of the previously announced sale of Dent Wizard (the “Company”), the largest national provider of automotive reconditioning services and vehicle protection products, to Dealer Tire, LLC (“Dealer Tire”), a national leader in replacement tire distribution for automotive dealerships. Gridiron is making a significant new investment in the combined platform alongside the majority shareholder, Bain Capital, the Mueller family and the management team. The combination of Dealer Tire and Dent Wizard creates a leading aftermarket dealer services platform focused on helping dealers grow their businesses.
Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, Dent Wizard is the largest and only national, full-service provider of automotive reconditioning services in North America providing paintless dent repair, minor wheel and paint refinishing, interior repair and key replacement, in-transit repair, hail and catastrophe services, as well as related F&I products. Dent Wizard offers unmatched quality and scale due to its highly trained base of 2,300+ technicians servicing over 7,000 customers across the dealer, auction, rental, fleet, OEM, and insurance channels. Dent Wizard will continue to operate independently under the leadership of its existing management team headed by CEO Mike Black.
Gridiron originally invested in Dent Wizard in 2015 and partnered with the Company to accelerate growth across all segments of the business both organically as well as through fifteen add-on acquisitions. Through its partnership with Gridiron, Dent Wizard expanded its suite of services, entered new channels, augmented the management team, and enhanced its recruiting and training program to scale for continued growth.
“Dent Wizard’s comprehensive suite of solutions, national technician coverage, and compelling customer value proposition have resulted in strong growth and will drive significant cross-selling opportunities as part of the combined company with Dealer Tire. We have really enjoyed working with the Dent Wizard team.” said Tom Burger, Gridiron’s Co-Founder and Managing Partner.
Mike Black, CEO of Dent Wizard, remarked that, “Under Gridiron’s partnership, we have grown all aspects of our business, built upon our strong company culture and have very positive momentum that will continue to drive the business forward. We have benefited from Gridiron’s financial and strategic direction during our partnership and are pleased that they will continue to be our partners going forward as part of Dealer Tire.”
Kevin Jackson, Managing Partner at Gridiron stated, “We are extremely proud of the Dent Wizard team and the outstanding growth that they achieved during our partnership. Dent Wizard’s entrepreneurial culture and leading aftermarket service offering is a perfect fit with Dealer Tire and we are excited to see their continued success as part of a broader aftermarket platform.”
Terry Koebbe, Chairman of Dent Wizard added, “The collaborative approach with Gridiron has been a valuable asset to expand our market leadership in the aftermarket reconditioning market. Personally, it has been extremely rewarding to have participated in the Company’s growth for more than two decades and I am confident that we will continue to build on our success.”
Dent Wizard was advised by Jefferies LLC, Robert W. Baird & Co., and Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff LLP.
About Dent Wizard:
Dent Wizard International, established in 1983, is North America’s largest provider of automotive reconditioning services and vehicle protection products. Services include paintless dent removal, minor body repair including bumpers, wheel restoration, interior repair, appraisal and catastrophe support, key origination and duplication, plus finance & insurance products. Dent Wizard serves many of the automotive industry’s leading companies through a diverse mix of customer channels: dealers, auctions, rental, finance & insurance and catastrophe/OEM, which includes auto body shops and insurance companies. Dent Wizard is transforming the automotive reconditioning and vehicle protection markets through its full-service solutions and unmatched scale and expertise. For more information visit www.dentwizard.com and www.evolutionvehicleprotection.com
About Gridiron Capital:
Gridiron Capital is an investment firm focused on partnering with founders, entrepreneurs, and management teams, and creating value by building middle-market companies into industry-leaders in branded consumer, B2B and B2C services, and niche industrial segments in the United States and Canada. We help transform growing companies by winning together through hard work, partnerships grounded in shared values and a unique culture that comes from hands-on experience building and running businesses. As a team led by former operators and entrepreneurs, we know what it takes to run successful businesses on a day-to-day basis. Additional information is available on the firm’s website: www.gridironcapital.com
Press Contacts:
Thomas A. Burger Jr., Managing Partner, Gridiron Capital, LLC
tburger@gridironcapital.com
Kevin Jackson, Managing Partner, Gridiron Capital, LLC
kjackson@gridironcapital.com