Sentinel Capital Partners Acquires Holley Performance Products

Combination with Driven Performance Brands Creates Leading Branded Automotive Performance Products Platform

News provided by

Oct 29, 2018, 07:30 ET

NEW YORK, Oct. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Sentinel Capital Partners ("Sentinel"), a private equity firm that invests in promising companies in the lower midmarket, today announced the acquisition of Holley Performance Products ("Holley"), a market leader in branded performance products for automotive enthusiasts. Sentinel acquired Holley from Lincolnshire Management, Inc. and will combine Holley with Driven Performance Brands ("Driven"), a platform acquired by Sentinel in 2015. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Holley markets and manufactures a wide range of branded high-performance products including fuel injection systems, engine tuning and ignition solutions, carburetors, and exhaust systems. Holley's portfolio includes leading brands such as Holley, Sniper EFI, MSD, Accel, Diablosport, Superchips, Edge, and Hooker Blackheart, each with its own identity that allows the company to target specific consumers across the late-model, classic, truck and jeep, and racing vehicle sub-segments. Utilizing direct feedback from consumers to guide the focus of its powerful engineering division, Holley has had a consistent commitment to leading-edge R&D and to introducing innovative new products. Headquartered in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Holley has been in operation for 115 years.

Driven develops, manufactures, and distributes high-performance automotive aftermarket products for a wide range of vehicles including late-model European imports, classic muscle cars, and trucks. Driven's products include mufflers, exhaust kits, shifters, transmission kits, torque converters, and electronic tuning solutions. Driven goes to market under five highly regarded and well-established brands: Flowmaster, B&M, Hurst, APR, and Dinan. Like Holley, Driven has a deep commitment to product development and innovation. Driven is headquartered in Santa Rosa, California and its brands date back more than 65 years.

"Holley is a strong, consumer-focused company with a portfolio of powerful brands and a meaningful edge in engineering and technology," said Jim Coady, a partner at Sentinel. "Holley operates in the large, highly-fragmented, and steadily growing automotive enthusiast market. Led by a deeply-involved and experienced management team, Holley has a proven ability to integrate add-on businesses successfully and leads the industry when it comes to product innovation. We believe that Holley and Driven are extremely complementary in terms of culture, brands, and capabilities. Combining Holley and Driven creates the largest and most diversified business in the industry."

"Holley provides a large and vibrant community of passionate consumers with high-performance products that are essential to their lifestyle," said Tom Tomlinson, President and CEO of Holley. "Uniting Holley and Driven expands our product offering and market-leading portfolio, deepens our connection to our enthusiast base, and, importantly, brings together two highly talented management teams."

"As one business, Holley and Driven will be a powerhouse at the center of a fragmented industry with highly favorable market dynamics," said Driven CEO Brian Appelgate. "We share with Holley many similarities in how we interact with and earn the loyalty of our passionate customers. In addition, our brand portfolios are highly complementary and the combined business will be highly adept at identifying, acquiring, and investing in new brands."

About Sentinel Capital Partners

Sentinel specializes in buying and building businesses in the lower midmarket in the United States and Canada in partnership with management. Sentinel targets aerospace and defense, business services, consumer, distribution, food and restaurants, franchising, healthcare, and industrial businesses. Sentinel invests in management buyouts, recapitalizations, corporate divestitures, and going-private transactions of established businesses with EBITDA of up to $65 million. Sentinel also invests in special situations, including balance sheet restructurings and operational turnarounds. For more information about Sentinel, visit www.sentinelpartners.com.

About Holley Performance Products

Holley has been the clear leader in fuel systems for over 100 years. Holley carburetors have powered every NASCAR® Sprint® Cup team and nearly every NHRA® Pro–Stock champion for four decades. In addition, Holley's electronic fuel injection products dominate high-performance auto racing. Holley's products are also highly sought after to improve the performance of many leading auto brands, including GM's LS family of engines. Besides carburetors and electronic fuel injection systems, Holley's product lineup includes performance fuel pumps, intake manifolds, and engine dress–up products for street performance, race, and marine applications. For more information, please visit www.holley.com.

About Driven Performance Brands

Driven Performance Brands designs, manufactures, and markets a full line of high-performance exhaust, drivetrain, and engine tuning products. A longtime leader in the performance exhaust and shifter markets, Driven has also become the top supplier of performance products for Volkswagen, Audi, and BMW vehicles in North America. Driven also recently launched the XDR brand to address the growing market opportunity in offroad Utility Task Vehicles ("UTV") and side-by-side vehicles.

Contact: Roland Tomforde
Broadgate Consultants
212-232-2222

SOURCE Sentinel Capital Partners