Mister Car Wash, a car wash operator serving vehicle owners, has moved into private equity ownership through a completed $3.1 billion transaction with Leonard Green & Partners.

The deal gives the sponsor a platform in automotive services and consumer services, with Mister Car Wash continuing as the operating business following the take-private.

Mister Car Wash sits in the vehicle-care portion of consumer services, where operators provide car wash services to motorists.

Its customer base is tied to routine automobile ownership and repeat-use cleaning needs rather than a single industrial or business-to-business end market.

For Leonard Green & Partners, the investment creates a direct operating-company position in a public-to-private consumer services asset.

The sponsor is not buying the company through a named portfolio-company acquirer, making Mister Car Wash the platform for the investment.

The transaction value was $3.1 billion.

A take-private acquisition moves a publicly traded company from stock-market ownership to sponsor control after closing, distinguishing the deal from a minority growth investment or an add-on acquisition by an existing platform.