KKR to buy $850-million stake in Quick Quack Car Wash

By Abigail Summerville and Anirban Sen

NEW YORK (Reuters) - KKR & Co has agreed to buy a "significant" minority stake in Quick Quack Car Wash, the investment firm told Reuters on Tuesday and sources familiar with the deal said KKR would pay $850 million.

Quick Quack's founders and existing owner Seidler Equity Partners will remain invested in the Roseville, California-based company.

Private-equity firms have been major investors in car wash companies recently. Last year, Oaktree Capital Management acquired Magnolia Wash Holdings. In 2022, Warburg Pincus bought El Car Wash. In 2021, Mister Car Wash, a Leonard Green & Partners-backed company, and Driven Brands, backed by Roark Capital, listed on the stock market.

Reuters reported earlier this year that Quick Quack was working with banks Goldman Sachs and William Blair to sell a minority stake.

Quick Quack, which launched in 2004, has over 230 locations across California, Texas, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. KKR said its investment will help the company grow through marketing and expansion.

Quick Quack will adopt a program to give equity in the company to its whole workforce, a strategy that KKR has implemented at several other portfolio companies.

KKR agreed to buy the stake through its strategic investments group, which invests across a company’s capital structure. The group sits under KKR’s credit business, which manages $260 billion in assets.

(Reporting by Abigail Summerville in New York; Editing by Rod Nickel)