JPMorgan Partners (JPMP), the private equity arm of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co, announced today, 5 January that they have signed a definitive agreement under which JPMP will acquire IMO Car Wash Group Ltd from a group of financial investors led by Bridgepoint, including Phoenix Equity Partners.

The acquisition is valued at £350m, with JPMP acquiring the entire company. Bret Holden, Chief Executive Officer of IMO, will continue to lead the company following the acquisition.

Based in London, and founded in 1965, IMO Car Wash Group Ltd is the world's largest conveyor car wash business and is marketed under the IMO and ARC brand names. The UK business was bought by a group of financial investors led by Bridgepoint in 1998 who provided further funding for it to acquire its former sister company in Germany in 2002. In the last four years IMO has doubled its number of sites and tripled its EBITDA to over £40 million this year. Today, the company operates over 800 car washes throughout 12 countries in Europe, including France, Germany, Spain, and the UK, and washes over 30 million cars a year.