PADUCAH, Ky.—Raben Tire Co. has acquired the inventory and other non-real-estate assets of Shelby's Wheel & Tires Inc. in Paducah and will be rebranding the 30-year-old business with the Raben name.
Raben Tire President Eric Glover called Shelby's Wheel and Paducah a “natural extension of Raben's business and network.” Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Raben's deal affects just the Shelby's Wheel & Tires location in Paducah. A store by the same name in Owensboro, Ky., is not affected.
Joe Goff, owner of the Paducah location, bought the business 30 years ago from the original founders Shelby and Rita Dunn and kept the name. The Dunn family continues to own and operate the Owensboro store.
Raben will lease the physical structure in Paducah from Mr. Goff, who will continue to manage the 10-bay business and its 20 employees under Raben's ownership.
“This acquisition is adjacent to our existing presence in western Kentucky, southern Illinois and southeastern Missouri and gives us a foothold along the Nashville to St. Louis interstate corridor,” Mr. Glover said.
Raben describes Paducah as a “highly attractive market” along the I-24, I-57 and I-64 interstate corridor. Raben has five other stores in western Kentucky and four stores in southern Illinois and southeastern Missouri within 50 miles of Paducah.
In addition, Raben's existing television advertising program already reaches the Paducah market. Paducah is a city of about 25,000 located at the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers.
“We are delighted to become part of the Raben Tire family,” Mr. Goff said. “We have great respect for the Raben team, and its brand is already well-known in our market.”
This the second acquisition undertaken by Raben Holdings L.L.C. since a fund managed by Palladium Equity Partners L.L.C. and affiliates bought into Raben Tire at year-end 2014.
Luis Zaldivar, a managing director of Palladium, said that with the acquisition, “Raben continues its focus on growing its business through attractive consolidation opportunities in a highly fragmented industry.”
Shelby's Wheel deals primarily in consumer and light truck tires, selling mainly Michelin and associated brands, as well as Nexen and Doral tires.
The addition of Shelby's Wheel expands Raben Tire's network to 27 retail and/or commercial locations, two wholesale distribution centers and three retread plants stretching across five Midwestern states.