Nov. 30, 2015—Jose Costa, president of the Paint & Collision division for Driven Brands, said on Monday that the company expects to announce a large acquisition in the paint-and-collision space before the end of this week.
Driven Brands, already the parent company of Maaco, Meineke and a number of other automotive aftermarket brands, purchased CARSTAR Auto Body Repair Experts in a deal that closed Oct. 22. And on Nov. 20, Costa announced a restructuring of the CARSTAR leadership team that included the dismissal of CEO David Byers.
CARSTAR now joins Maaco and Drive N Style in Driven Brands’ newly formed Paint & Collision division, which is projected to top $1.2 billion in total sales this year — and nearly $1.6 billion in 2016, Costa said.
In a conference call with media on Monday, Costa and newly named CARSTAR brand president Dan Young spoke to the futures of all companies in the Paint & Collision vertical at Driven Brands. And Costa said Driven Brands is committed to retaining all brands under its sizeable umbrella, and is looking for major growth in the future.
He added that the company will announce a “major acquisition” this week, and not to expect corporate ownership of stores in the near future, as the company will remain “committed to its franchising platform.”
Young spoke to the “added horsepower” the merger provides CARSTAR as it looks to expand its operations in the near future. He said he hopes for a “three-pronged” approach, as the company looks toward traditional (recruiting independent owners to become franchisees), internal (current franchisees opening additional locations), and merger-and-acquisition strategies to drive that growth.
