Tucson-based Mister Car Wash is getting out of the quick-lube business with the sale of its 27 Mister Oil Change Express locations in seven states, not including Arizona, to Valvoline Instant Oil Change.
Terms of the deal, which closed Dec. 11, were not disclosed.
Thirteen of the lube centers sold off are located in Texas, and the others are in Florida, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Missouri, Washington and Wisconsin.
Former employees of Mister Oil Change should have bright futures with Valvoline, said John Lai, president and CEO of the privately owned Mister Car Wash, citing each company’s commitment to customer service. His company will focus on expanding its core car-wash business.
“We will continue to work as close neighbors, and we know that their success is our success,” Lai said in prepared remarks announcing the sale. “At the same time this sale allows Mister Car Wash to focus on expanding its car washes through new build locations and acquisitions.”
Valvoline Instant Oil Change is owned by Valvoline Inc., a major maker of automotive oils, additives and lubricants based in Lexington, Kentucky.
The company said that of the 27 locations it is acquiring from Mister Car Wash, 15 will be company-owned and operated and 12 will be franchise-owned and operated.
The purchase will not include any car wash-related assets or operations, the companies said.
Mister Car Wash has grown rapidly through acquisitions to become the nation’s biggest car-wash operator, with 340 car washes in 21 states, including Arizona.
The company, which moved its headquarters to Tucson in 1996, employs about 5,600 people companywide, with about 470 workers in Arizona including about 200 at the headquarters it opened in renovated historic church building downtown in 2014.
The original Mister Car Wash opened in Houston, Texas, in 1969.
In 1996, Car Wash Partners, doing business as Mister Car Wash, was formed by the investment firm Brown, McMillan & Co. to create a nationwide car-wash company through acquisitions.
ONCAP, a private-equity arm of the investment management firm Onex Corp., acquired Mister Car Wash in 2007 and in 2014 sold the company to the private-equity firm Leonard Green & Partners, in deal reportedly worth $380 million.
