YEAR IN REVIEW: Mergers, acquisitions

AKRON — 2017 was one of the tire and automotive service industry's most active years ever in terms of mergers and acquisitions, according to Tire Business'analysis of transactions over the past dozen months.

More than 500 retail and/or commercial locations changed hands this past year, Tire Business' records show.

Icahn Automotive easily was the busiest player, buying more than 225 retail stores outright — including 134 stores in one deal, the purchase of Just Brakes L.L.C. — and two other franchise groups with nearly 1,000 franchised business locations.

Other acquisitions include:

• Advanced Auto Service & Tire Centers of Phoenix (15 retail stores);

• Mathis Tire & Auto Service and Direct Tire Distributors in Memphis, Tenn. (12 retail stores and a 6,000-unit warehouse);

• Elliott Tire & Automotive Service Inc., a Seattle-based independent tire dealership with 10 stores throughout Washington; and

• A dozen other stores in individual acquisitions.

The franchise groups acquired are:

• American Driveline Systems (ADS) — franchisor of the AAMCO Total Car Care and Cottman Transmission & Total Auto Care businesses — totaling 680 outlets; and

• Precision Auto Care Inc., franchisor of the Precision Tune Auto Care automotive service business with roughly 250 Precision Tune stores in the U.S. — including 43 franchisor-owned outlets — and 65 more locations outside the U.S., including five in Mexico.

Other major players this past year included Monro Inc., Western Automotive Ventures, Leeds West Group and ATV Inc.

Monro — which dropped "Muffler Brake" from its corporate name in August — added 36 retail stores throughout the year in 10 separate transactions. The largest purchase was NONA Inc., a Car-X Tire franchisee in Champaign, Ill.

Western Automotive Ventures, a Big O Tires franchisee with a dozen stores in the Las Vegas area, took over 44 former National Tire & Battery stores in Iowa, Kansas, Illinois and Minnesota and is converting them to Big O signage.

Leeds West Group (LWG), a leading Big O Tires and Midas International franchisee, bought Auto Systems Experts (ASE), a Davenport, Iowa-based Midas franchisee with 42 locations.

ATV Inc. opened 11 American Tire Depot stores throughout its Southern California marketing area — including nine acquired locations that were refurbished to Tire Depot signage — expanding its network to 104 stores.

Black's Tire Service Inc. took over six Perry Brothers Tire Service Inc. stores in North Carolina, extending the Black's Tire network to 45 retail stores in North and South Carolina.

Pomp's Tire Service Inc. acquired Cross-Midwest Tire Co., a Kansas City, Kan.-based dealership with a dozen commercial locations throughout Illinois, Kansas and Missouri. The stores will continue to operate under the Cross-Midwest name.

In addition, Bridgestone Retail Operations acquired Fletcher's Tire & Auto Service and converted 31 of the dealership's 35 Phoenix-area outlets to Firestone Complete Auto Care centers and closed four outlets.

Bridgestone Americas also was active on the divestment end, selling its Speedco Inc. commercial tire and service lube business to Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores Inc., which is keeping the Speedco name on the 52 locations acquired.

Michelin North America divested or closed 48 TCi Tire Centers commercial locations in 2017 and refocused the unit's efforts on expanding its wholesale distribution footprint.

Michelin divested 27 TCi locations in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Virginia in July to Snider Fleet Solutions; 16 locations in Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri and Texas in September to T&W Tire; four locations in Ohio in December to Shrader Tire & Oil; and the assets of one shop in Michigan to Meekhof Tire.

The remaining 10 TCi centers in Arizona, California and Colorado are now operating under the auspices of the Michelin Americas Truck Tires business.

On the wholesalers' side of the ledger, American Tire Distributors Inc., Icahn Enterprises Ltd., K&M Tire Inc., Sullivan Tire and Auto Service and TBC Corp. all expanded by acquisition.

ATD acquired Pneus Superieurs Inc. of Quebec, expanding its network of warehouses operating under its National Tire Distributors (NTD) unit to 24. The deal involves three distribution centers — in Boucherville, Quebec City and Sherbrooke, Quebec — which complement NTD's existing distribution centers in Quebec, in St. Laurent and Quebec City.

Icahn's Pep Boys business initiated wholesale distribution in the Memphis, Tenn., area through its acquisition of Mathis Tire & Auto Service/Direct Tire Distributors, which included a 6,000-unit warehouse.

K&M Tire Inc. acquired MotoStar Tire & Auto Products Inc. of Merrimack, N.H., and the wholesale business of Great Bend, Kan.-based Becker Tire & Treading Inc., expanding K&M's reach to 26 warehouses covering 27 states, including New England for the first time.

Sullivan Tire acquired Tom Lyons Tire & Auto Service in Waltham, Mass., including the dealership's 15,000-sq.-ft. wholesale warehouse and distribution facility.

TBC's Carroll Tire Co. wholesale business acquired Sandone Tire Co.'s wholesale division in Dunmore, Pa., as part of the business' expansion to 58 locations nationwide.