NEW YORK, June 11 (Reuters) - KKR & Co ( KKR ) has

agreed to buy a "significant" minority stake in Quick Quack Car

Wash, the investment firm told Reuters on Tuesday and sources

familiar with the deal said KKR would pay $850 million.

Quick Quack's founders and existing owner Seidler Equity

Partners will remain invested in the Roseville, California-based

company.

Private-equity firms have been major investors in car wash

companies recently. Last year, Oaktree Capital Management

acquired Magnolia Wash Holdings. In 2022, Warburg Pincus bought

El Car Wash. In 2021, Mister Car Wash ( MCW ), a Leonard Green &

Partners-backed company, and Driven Brands ( DRVN ), backed by

Roark Capital, listed on the stock market.

Reuters reported earlier this year that Quick Quack was

working with banks Goldman Sachs and William Blair to sell a

minority stake.

Quick Quack, which launched in 2004, has over 230 locations

across California, Texas, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. KKR said

its investment will help the company grow through marketing and

expansion.

Quick Quack will adopt a program to give equity in the

company to its whole workforce, a strategy that KKR has

implemented at several other portfolio companies.

KKR agreed to buy the stake through its strategic

investments group, which invests across a company's capital

structure. The group sits under KKR's credit business, which

manages $260 billion in assets.