PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Mavis Tire Express Service Corp. is buying the Midas International franchise portfolio — considered one of the nation's largest automotive repair/tire retail businesses with systemwide sales of nearly $2 billion — from TBC Corp.
The pending deal will expand Mavis Tire's retail reach to approximately 3,500 stores in the U.S. and Canada under its various brands, including up to 1,600 franchised locations, according to available data.
Financial terms of the deal — the third between TBC and Mavis in recent years — were not disclosed, although Michelin Group, which co-owns TBC, said it expects the deal to have a positive impact on its 2025 net earnings of about $200 million.
The latest transaction is expected to close in the coming weeks, subject to the approval of the competent authorities, the parties said.
Mavis Tire Express Co-CEO David Sorbaro called the Midas franchise program a "highly regarded brand" that represents a "compelling opportunity" to expand Mavis Tire into "attractive new markets."
"Mavis has a strong track record of helping brands grow and working collaboratively with franchisees," Sorbaro said, "and we are confident that Midas' customers will continue to receive the same high-quality experience and service that they have come to expect.
"We are excited to welcome the talented Midas team to the Mavis family," Sorbaro said, "and look forward to partnering with Midas' excellent franchisees to help fuel the future growth of their businesses and expand the Midas footprint."
In announcing the deal, Michelin said the Midas business model relies mostly on automotive services, while TBC identifies tire wholesale, distribution and Big O Tires as its core businesses, "leveraging an industry-leading network and scale.
"The operation will enable TBC to focus on driving accelerated growth and value in its core businesses," Michelin said.
TBC generated $3.98 billion in sales last year, down 9.7% from 2023, according to Michelin, reflecting the divestiture in June 2023 of the NTB Tire and Tire Kingdom retail assets, also to TBC.
TBC has owned/operated Midas International since April 2012, acquiring the business in a deal valued then at $310 million. Today the Midas franchise program has 1,163 Midas-badged points of sale throughout the U.S., along with another 800 or so in markets outside the U.S.
Midas will continue to operate as a standalone brand under the Mavis platform and maintain its headquarters in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., TBC said. Lenny Valentino Jr. is expected to continue as president and COO.
In June 2023 Mavis acquired 595 NTB Tire & Service and Tire Kingdom retail store assets from TBC, pushing the Mavis retail footprint close to the 2,000-store mark. Three years earlier, Mavis acquired 112 NTB locations in four key markets.
TBC and Mavis are also linked through a distribution agreement involving TBC's National Tire Wholesale distribution venture that the companies inked alongside the first NTB deal.
Over the past decade, TBC has attempted to boost tire sales through the Midas network with various incentives. In 2015 and 2016, the company rolled out a series of programs designed to build tire sales through the Midas franchise network.
For Mavis, this deal would expand its portfolio of franchise programs and solidify its grip as one of — it not, the — largest players in the U.S. retail and wholesale tire sector.
White Plains, N.Y.-based Mavis is considered the largest independent retail tire dealership in North America, with 1,859 company-owned retail outlets. As many as 1,100 of those came via acquisition. (See accompanying table.)
It also operates two franchise programs: Express Oil Change/Tire Engineers, with roughly 400 locations; and Tuffy Tire & Auto, which oversees 165 franchised outlets.
Midas — an acronym of Muffler Installation Dealers' Association — was founded in 1956 by Nate Sherman, going to market as Midas Muffler. Throughout its history, the brand leaned on the King Midas legend, which was the basis of the "Trust the Midas Touch" advertising/marketing slogan.
Mavis is backed by a number of private-equity firms, including: Neuberger Berman Alternatives, BayPine L.P., TSG Consumer Partners L.P. and West First Management, a holding company controlled by David and Stephen Sorbaro, co-CEOs of Mavis.
Mavis Tire has existed under that name since 1972, but it traces its roots to 1949 and Vic's Cycle Shop, a bicycle repair business established by Victor Sorbaro in Mt. Vernon, N.Y. That morphed into "Vic the Tire King" in 1965 as the business evolved toward tire repair and then new tire sales.
Expansion to multiple stores followed, and in 1972 — striving for a more professional image — Vic and Marion Sorbaro changed the name to Mavis Tire Supply. The name is derived from the first two letters of Marion and VIctor and then the "S" from Sorbaro.
Other significant acquisitions over the past couple of decades include:
- April 2022 — Jack Williams Tire & Auto Service Centers (39 retail stores in eastern Pennsylvania and a wholesale business serving dealers in five Eastern Seaboard states);
- February 2022 — Action Gator Tire's retail assets (23 stores in Florida);
- November 2020 — merged operations with Town Fair Tire (100 stores throughout New England);
- March 2018 — Sun Tire & Automotive Service (11 stores in Florida);
- February 2018 — merged with Express Oil Change & Tire Engineers (400 company-owned and franchised outlets in 19 states);
- January 2018 — Kauffman Tire Inc.'s retail business (69 stores in Florida and Georgia);
- August 2015 — Somerset Tire Service Inc. (157 retail stores in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania and six wholesale distribution centers operating as "Banner Tire.");
- December 2008 — acquired Cole Muffler Inc. (47 stores in New York and Pennsylvania).
