TUCSON, Arizona, May 20, 2026, 07:02 MST
Mister Car Wash is now private after Leonard Green & Partners finished its buyout of the Tucson car wash chain. The $3.1 billion deal takes the company off Nasdaq. LGP paid $7.00 a share for the stock it didn’t already own, with management keeping some of its stake.
Mister Car Wash confirmed its stock has stopped trading and will drop off Nasdaq. The company said a Nasdaq Form 25, filed May 19, started the delisting and deregistration process. The timing matters since the shares are no longer trading in the public market.
Sticking with the deal left holders with the cash payout. Mister Car Wash ended the session on May 18 at $7.10, trading about 29.5 million shares, according to the company’s historical price table.
Leonard Green is back in full control of the business after the buyout. Back in February, Mister Car Wash said LGP owned about 67% of the company’s common stock. The $7.00 a share deal was a 29% premium over the 90-day volume-weighted average price through Feb. 17, based on price and volume, the company said when the merger was announced.
Mister Car Wash Chairman and CEO John Lai said in the closing statement that taking the company private allows “greater flexibility” for investing in customer experience. Back in February, Lai said going private would let Mister Car Wash “accelerate our growth” with more investment in stores, staff and technology.
Mister Car Wash posted a 6% rise in net revenue to $277.9 million for the first quarter. Comparable-store sales were up 3.9%. Unlimited Wash Club memberships jumped 11% to about 2.5 million. Adjusted EBITDA rose 13% to $96.7 million, backing out interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and some other items. The company said the operating backdrop wasn’t weak in the last reported quarter.
Leonard Green’s moves outside the public eye are the real question here. Mister Car Wash ran around 550 sites and claimed the biggest car-wash subscription setup in North America. That scale matters in a business where membership deals and having lots of sites can make a big difference on margins.
Sector still isn’t easy, as rivals show. Driven Brands sold its U.S. car-wash business to Whistle Express Car Wash in 2025, picking up about $255 million in cash and a $130 million seller note. The company said it would use the cash to pay down debt and put focus on Take 5 Oil Change and its franchise segment.
Debt and rivalry are still concerns. According to the closing filing, Mister Car Wash has taken on a $900 million senior secured first-lien incremental term loan facility for the merger and fees, and plans to deregister its common stock and stop public reporting once delisted. Management could get more flexibility, but outside investors will get less visibility as the company holds buyout debt.
Car-wash operators are feeling pressure. Zips Car Wash, among the biggest private players, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2025, blaming higher rates, increased labor costs and more rivals. The U.S. car-wash market added around 900 new sites a year for five years, Zips said.
Mister Car Wash is gone from the public markets. Now a private owner will try to get more out of its size, memberships and new locations, but without the pressure or the visibility it had on Nasdaq.
