Driven Brands Agrees to Divest International Car Wash Business

Driven Brands Holdings Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement to sell IMO, its international car wash business, to Franchise Equity Partners, as announced in a press release.

Franchise Equity Partners will acquire IMO for €406 million, based on IMO’s balance sheet as of June 30, 2025. The agreement includes customary ‘locked box’ protections against certain types of financial leakage, and a customary ‘ticker’ whereby the purchase price increases daily by a fixed amount in Euros from July 1, 2025, to the closing date. Cash proceeds from the transaction will primarily be used to pay down debt and general corporate purposes.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026. With the reclassification of the international car wash business to discontinued operations, Driven Brands is now expecting same store sales growth to be slightly below the low end of its original range of 1% to 3%. The company still expects a net store growth of approximately 175 to 200.

“The divestiture of our international car wash business helps accelerate our path towards de- levering our balance sheet while maintaining operational focus on our core, North American businesses. This transaction will reduce pro forma leverage by approximately 0.3x and demonstrates our commitment to achieve 3x net leverage by the end of 2026,” said Mike Diamond, chief financial officer.