MIAMI—Trivest Partners LP (“Trivest”), a leading private equity firm focused on investing in founder and family-owned businesses, today announced that Trivest Fund V, along with its co-investor Brick Investment Partners, has completed the sale of its portfolio company Oil Changers, Inc. (“Oil Changers” or “Company”) to Greenbriar Equity Group, L.P. (“Greenbriar”). Terms of the sale were not disclosed.
Headquartered in Pleasanton, CA, Oil Changers is one of the largest operators of oil change facilities on the West Coast. Through its 56 service centers, the Company is recognized by consumers for its convenient, drive thru model, fast service times, and friendly and knowledgeable staff. Established in 1984, Oil Changers nearly doubled its locations through acquisitions and new store openings since 2018, resulting in 2x revenue growth and nearly 3x EBITDA growth over the same period. Notably, led by CEO Eric Frankenberger and its long-tenured managers, Oil Changers recorded significant organic growth in 2020 despite dealing with the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Eric Frankenberger, CEO of Oil Changers, stated, “The growth we’ve experienced over the past three years has been nothing short of amazing and has culminated in this exciting new partnership with Greenbriar. First, I’d like to thank our employees. They show up every day ready to deliver the amazing customer service that separates Oil Changers from our competitors. Additionally, we would like to thank the entire team from Trivest. From their original investment in Oil Changers through the exit process, Trivest showed an incredible commitment to investing in our company and our people to help Oil Changers maximize its potential. We would also like to thank Chris Thorpe and David Hobbs from Brick Investment Partners. They worked relentlessly to help us execute our acquisition strategy and block and tackle on various growth initiatives. Last, but not least, we would like to thank Larry Read and the founders of Oil Changers as they laid the foundation to help make us what we are today.”
Steve Reynolds, principal at Trivest, added, “Over our three year investment period, we had the opportunity to acquire seven terrific family-owned businesses, adding substantial size, scale and diversification to the Oil Changers platform. Eric and the entire Oil Changers team worked tirelessly to successfully integrate these acquisitions as well as accelerate organic growth through the “brand refresh” initiative and aggressive investments in digital marketing. The team’s efforts have created an exceptional business, and we are proud to have had the opportunity to partner with them.”
“Oil Changers was an exciting investment for Trivest from day one. We set out distinct goals for each company prior to making an investment, and the Company exceeded every target that we set. Eric and his team work incredibly hard every day, and we thank them for a wonderful partnership,” said Trivest partner Forest Wester.
As Trivest’s third highly successful realized investment in automotive aftermarket services, Trivest and management leveraged numerous elements of Trivest’s long-term value creation strategy, the “Path to 3x.” Management and Trivest defined a Category of One to customers by developing the “Drive Thru. Drive Happy” brand refresh, which included a remodel of all of its existing stores and acquired stores. The Company added key leaders in finance, operations, real estate and marketing to fill out the leadership around Eric Frankenberger as CEO and propel the Company’s future growth. In addition to developing a strong platform to acquire existing operators and boost their financial performance, the Company drove consistent growth in car count, average ticket and profitability well above the industry averages.
Jefferies LLC served as the exclusive financial advisor to Oil Changers on the sale transaction, and Akerman LLP served as Oil Changers’ and Trivest’s legal counsel.
ABOUT OIL CHANGERS
Established in 1984, Oil Changers is a leading provider of oil changes and ancillary services, including fluid exchanges, fuel system checks, state inspections, and wiper blade and filter replacements. The Company currently operates 56 locations across California’s Bay Area, Central Valley, San Diego and Riverside County and the island of Oahu in Hawaii. The Company is known for its drive-thru model where customers stay in their cars while receiving a fast, quality oil service. To learn more, visit www.oilchangers.com
ABOUT TRIVEST
Trivest Partners LP, with offices in Miami, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Toronto, is a private investment firm that focuses exclusively on the support and growth of founder-led and family-owned businesses in the U.S. and Canada in both control and non-control transactions. Since its founding in 1981, Trivest has completed more than 300 investments, totaling approximately $7 billion in value. Trivest is one of only 18 firms recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the top-50 founder-friendly private equity firms in both 2019 and 2020. To learn more, visit www.trivest.com
ABOUT GREENBRIAR
Founded in 1999, Greenbriar is a private equity firm managing over $6 billion of total committed capital focused on investments in market-leading services and manufacturing businesses. Greenbriar looks to identify companies with proven management teams capitalizing on strong long-term growth prospects that can benefit from Greenbriar’s deep sectoral expertise and strategic insight alongside our proven operating capabilities and network of senior executive relationships. www.greenbriarequity.com
CONTACT
Forest Wester
Steve Reynolds
305-858-2200
