Japan’s Marubeni Corp. Acquires South Africa’s Tiger Wheel & Tyre, as Carlyle and Old Mutual Private Equity Exit

Marubeni Corporation. has agreed to buy TiAuto Investments (Pty) Ltd Investments Pty Ltd, the owner of South Africa’s leading tyre and automotive service chains Tiger Wheel & Tyre and Tyres & More, in a deal that marks the Japanese trading house’s debut in Africa’s car maintenance market.

The acquisition of the Johannesburg-based group, which operates 161 stores across South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia, is subject to regulatory approvals. While the parties declined to disclose the purchase price, Bloomberg previously reported the transaction was valued at about R2.6 billion ($146 million).

The sale represents an exit for private equity owners The Carlyle Group Group (advised by Alterra Capital Partners) and Old Mutual Private Equity, who bought the business in 2014 and expanded it from 104 to 161 outlets.

TiAuto, founded in 1967, is one of Southern Africa’s largest automotive aftermarket groups, offering tyres, wheels, batteries, wheel repairs and related services. It generated combined group and franchisee turnover of roughly R4.5 billion in its latest period.

For Marubeni, the deal builds on its existing international tyre and car maintenance platform, which includes Thailand’s B-Quik — grown from 44 to 241 stores since its 2006 acquisition — as well as operations in Indonesia and Mexico. Adding TiAuto will lift the Japanese group’s global network to approximately 540 stores.

Marubeni said it plans to apply the efficient, multi-brand service model developed at B-Quik to TiAuto’s operations, targeting further expansion across Africa, where South Africa’s car maintenance market is growing at about 6% annually amid rising vehicle ownership.

“This is an exciting new chapter for TiAuto,” Alex Taplin, TiAuto’s chief executive officer, said in a statement. “Marubeni’s investment is a strong endorsement of our strategy, our market position and the opportunities that lie ahead.” Taplin said day-to-day operations, branding and local management would remain unchanged following the deal.

The transaction aligns with Marubeni’s GC2027 mid-term strategy, which focuses on scalable, high value-added platform businesses in growth markets. Marubeni already has a modest presence in Southern Africa as a minority investor in Phillips Pharma Group, a distributor of pharmaceuticals and medical devices.