Investors group buys ATD for $1.3 billion

American Tire Distributors (ATD) has been sold to an array of investment firms headed by TPG Capital for $1.3 billion.

“This is an exciting time in the evolution of our company” says William Berry, ATD’s president and CEO. “We welcome our new partners at TPG, who share the same vision we do for the continued growth of the (company’s) brand as significant growth opportunities remain and we continue to seize opportunities such as geographic expansion and online sales.”

Established in 1935 and headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., ATD has a network of 83 distribution centers serving 37 states with more than 700 delivery vehicles covering a customer base of 60,000 tire outlets and some 40,000 SKUs.

“American Tire Distributors is a market leader that has demonstrated its ability to perform well over an extended period of time,” says Kevin Burns, a TPG partner. “We’re investing behind a great management team and we look forward to working with them to continue to expand this successful franchise.”

“Over the past five years management implemented a successful strategy that has built (the company) into the leading replacement tire distributor in the U.S.,” notes David Tayeh, a managing director at Investcorp, which is among an ownership group that had purchased ATD in 2005 for an undisclosed sum.

“We are proud to have partnered with management in the development of the strategy and believe TPG is the ideal new partner for the company to support it through the next stage of its development and growth,” Tayeh says.

The transaction is expected to officially close later this year pending regulatory approval. A previously planned ATD public stock offering has been put on hold.

For more information, visit www.americantiredistributors.com and www.tpg.com.