H.I.G. Capital Completes Sale of Dent Wizard
SAN FRANCISCO – April 14, 2015 – H.I.G. Middle Market (“H.I.G.”), the dedicated middle market investment affiliate of H.I.G. Capital, announced today that its affiliate has completed the sale of Dent Wizard International (“Dent Wizard” or “the Company”) to Gridiron Capital.
Dent Wizard, based in St. Louis, Missouri, is the global leader in automotive reconditioning. Its services help its customers sell vehicles faster and at a higher profit. In November 2010, H.I.G. acquired Dent Wizard through a complex carve-out from Manheim and recruited a new management team. Since then, management has successfully expanded all its core service offerings and implemented a set of performance excellence tools to create the industry leading reconditioning provider.
H.I.G. Capital Managing Director Fraser Preston commented, “Dent Wizard is an exceptional company with a bright future. We are proud of the work we did in partnership with the very talented management team to carve the business out of the corporate parent, reverse the negative growth trajectory at the time of our acquisition, and substantially increase EBITDA over the course of our four year ownership. This investment will provide an attractive return for H.I.G. and its investors, which is a testament to Dent Wizard’s successful transformation.”
CEO of Dent Wizard Terry Koebbe said, “H.I.G. has been a highly effective partner that provided invaluable operational and strategic guidance. H.I.G.’s support for the company’s growth initiatives put the business on a high growth trajectory that we feel confident will allow us to continue to succeed.”
About Dent Wizard:
Dent Wizard International has been the leader in the development of Paintless Dent Removal (PDR) technology since its establishment in 1983, and today is North America’s leading provider of SMART Repairs (Small to Medium Area Repair Techniques). Dent Wizard provides on-site reconditioning services and products to the automotive industry through its relationships with dealerships, auto auctions, body shops; rental companies and insurance companies. Services include: PDR; minor paint; wheel repair; chip and scratch repair; bumper repair; headlight brightening; interior repair; locksmith services; exterior blackout; and hail damage repair. Dent Wizard offers multiple branded programs and service plans that are sold through the major profit centers of the dealership: F&I, pre-owned and service departments. An affiliate of Gridiron Capital, a private equity investment firm, St. Louis-based Dent Wizard operates throughout the United States and Canada. For more information visit www.dentwizard.com or call 800-DENT-WIZ.
About H.I.G. Capital
H.I.G. is a leading global private equity and alternative assets investment firm with more than $17 billion of equity capital under management.* Based in Miami, and with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, and Atlanta in the U.S., as well as international affiliate offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Rio de Janeiro, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies, utilizing a flexible and operationally focused/ value-added approach:
- H.I.G.’s equity funds invest in management buyouts, recapitalizations and corporate carve-outs of both profitable as well as underperforming manufacturing and service businesses.
- H.I.G.’s debt funds invest in senior, unitranche and junior debt financing to companies across the size spectrum, both on a primary (direct origination) basis, as well as in the secondary markets. H.I.G. is also a leading CLO manager, through its WhiteHorse family of vehicles, and manages a publicly traded BDC, WhiteHorse Finance.
- Other H.I.G. funds invest in various real assets, including real estate and shipping.
Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 200 companies worldwide. The firm’s current portfolio includes more than 80 companies with combined sales in excess of $30 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.hig.com.
* Based on total capital commitments to funds managed by H.I.G. Capital and its affiliates.