Inchcape plc, the international automotive retail group, has today announced the takeover of Lind Automotive Group Holdings Limited from GM Dacre and Attly Investments Inc.

Lind is one of the largest independent automotive retailers in the UK with 21 retail centres representing BMW, Mini, Volkswagen, Audi, Honda, Land Rover and Mitsubishi in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Kent.

Andre Lacroix, Inchcape group chief executive, said: "The purchase of Lind is an excellent strategic acquisition for Inchcape. It increases the scale of our UK retail activity both geographically and in terms of brand partners, bringing UK retail revenues close to £2 billion.

"Through Lind, we will further develop our partnerships with BMW, Mini, Volkswagen, Land Rover, renew our relationship with Audi in the UK, and will create our first partnership with Honda. I am confident that our strong management will successfully leverage the synergies and performance improvement opportunities from this acquisition.

"Following the acquisition Inchcape will operate the largest number of BMW and Mini retail centres in the UK. The acquisition also renews our partnership in the UK with Audi and establishes an important new partnership with Honda. Both are brands that have demonstrated strong market share growth over the last 10 years."

The acquisition of 100% of the equity of Lind is for a cash consideration of £71.4m, plus the assumption of debt of £12.7m, together with a cash consideration of £24.5m for selected properties held outside Lind. The value of the gross assets acquired is £108.6m. These are subject to the finalisation of completion accounts.

Turnover for the business acquired for the year ended December 31, 2005 was £395.6m. The operating profit was £7.1 million.

Completion of this acquisition is subject to certain regulatory approvals including the European Commission under the EC Merger Regulation.