Transom Capital Acquires AAMCO and Cottman Transmission Franchisor



Transom Capital Group acquired American Driveline Systems (ADS) from American Capital. ADS is the franchisor of the AAMCO and Cottman Transmission & Total Car Care brands.

With nearly 700 franchisee owned and operated locations, AAMCO and Cottman Transmission are the No. 1 and No. 2 transmission repair retail chains in North America, respectively, operating in 47 states and three provinces.

“This partnership is a key element of our five-year strategic plan to build on the strong foundation of both the AAMCO and Cottman companies,” said Brett Ponton, CEO of ADS. “Transom’s deep experience in distributed stakeholder business models, its aggressive focus on performance and its proven ability to work with management teams were the key reasons in our selection of them as our partner for our next phase.”

“With its current leadership and its network of franchisees we believe that ADS is very well positioned to capitalize on its strategic plan and achieve its future growth objectives,” said Ty Schultz, managing partner at Transom. “Furthermore, we believe there is significant opportunity to build value at ADS and in the automotive aftermarket industry overall through improved positioning and strengthening of the AAMCO and Cottman brands.”

Buy-side advisors to the transaction included Schwartz Advisors, O’Melveny & Myers as M&A counsel and Greenberg Traurig as debt counsel. Prudential Capital provided financing for the transaction and Rothschild, served as sell-side M&A advisory.


Like this story? Begin each business day with news you need to know! Click here to register now for our FREE Daily E-News Broadcast and start YOUR day informed!

Leave a comment

View Latest Digital Edition

Terry Mulreany
Subscriptions: 800 708 9373 x130
[email protected]
Susie Angelucci
Advertising: 484.459.3016
[email protected]

View Latest Digital Edition

Visit our sister website for news, information, exclusive articles,
deal tables and more on the asset-based lending, factoring,
and restructuring industries.
www.abfjournal.com