MOTOR dealership company Lind is to be acquired by the international automotive retail group Inchcape in a deal valued at around £108.6million.Inchcape will add 21 Lind dealerships to its network, involving BMW, Mini, Audi, Volkswagen, Land Rover, Honda and Mitsubishi franchises located across Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Kent and Sussex.

MOTOR dealership company Lind is to be acquired by the international automotive retail group Inchcape in a deal valued at around £108.6million.

Inchcape will add 21 Lind dealerships to its network, involving BMW, Mini, Audi, Volkswagen, Land Rover, Honda and Mitsubishi franchises located across Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Kent and Sussex.

The deal involves a cash consideration of £71.4million plus the assumption of £12.7million of debt and a further cash sum of £24.5million relating to properties held outside of the business.

Lind, which has evolved out of the Norwich BMW dealership acquired by Graham Dacre in 1992, last year generated an operating profit of £7.1million on sales of £395.6million.

Its East Anglian dealerships include BMW, Mini and Land Rover in Ipswich, BMW, Mini, Volkswagen, Honda and Mitsubishi in Colchester, BMW, Mini, Volkswagen and Honda in Chelmsford, and BMW and Mini in Norwich.

Graham Dacre said yesterday: “I am pleased to confirm the proposed sale of the Lind business to Inchcape. Owning Lind has been a huge privilege and I have enjoyed immensely building and establishing the business over the last 14 years.

“Lind locationally fits extremely well with the Inchcape business. As part of a larger operation I am sure that all of the Lind dealerships will continue to perform and mature. I shall however miss immensely not being responsible in the future for the Lind portfolio.

“The agreement, however, represents what all believe to be the right opportunity for both companies and I wish Inchcape and all currently involved in Lind every success in the future.”

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

Inchcape is one of the largest franchised dealer groups in the UK, already representing manufacturers including BMW, Ferrari, Ford, Jaguar, Kia, Land Rover, Lexus, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz (cars and commercial vehicles), Mini, Renault, Smart, Toyota, Vauxhall, Volkswagen and Volvo.

Its presence in East Anglia currently includes Jaguar, Land Rover, Lexus and Volvo dealerships in Norwich, plus an AutoParc used vehicle outlet in the city, and a Land Rover dealership in King's Lynn.

Besides the UK, Inchcape has operations in Greece, Belgium, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore, employing a total of more than 10,000 people worldwide.