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The information below comes from the UK Activity Report.
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Inchcape Inchcape has acquired a 75% stake in Musa Motors Group, the Russian car dealer with 16 franchised retail centres, for an initial £100m. 25-Apr-2008 Inchcape has sold five Vauxhall car dealerships in Reading, Newbury, Fareham, Exeter and Honiton to Eden Group for £14m. 11-Jan-2008 Inchcape has raised £6.8m from the sale of Wilcomatic, J&S Components and its VW car dealership in Wrexham. 17-Oct-2007 Inchcape is to sell its Maranello car dealerships in St Albans, Egham and Sevenoaks to HR Owen, Sytner Group and Lancaster respectively, in a £16m deal. 04-Oct-2007 Inchcape is to acquire two Latvian car dealerships - Baltic Motors and SIA BM Auto - from MVC Capital for up to £60m. 12-Jun-2007 Inchcape has sold its Inchcape Automotive vehicle transportation business to Camden Ventures for up to £19m, in order to focus on car retailing. 05-Jun-2007 Inchcape is to acquire a 67% stake in the automotive retail operations of UAB Vitvela for up to £13m, including Mazda, Ford, Hyundai and Mitsubishi car dealerships in Lithuania. 22-May-2007 Inchcape is looking to sell 47 non-core car dealerships, including Ford and Ferrari franchises, as part of a strategy to focus on brands such as Toyota, BMW and Audi. 07-Mar-2007 Inchcape is to acquire European Motor Holdings for £263m, in order to expand its car dealership presence in northern England and in premium brands. 18-Dec-2006 Inchcape is to create dozens of jobs at a new Toyota and Lexus car dealership due to open at Pride Park in Derby in December. 03-Nov-2006 Inchcape is to acquire a 75% stake in the Axel Car Toyota and Lexus dealership in Russia for up to £38m. 31-Aug-2006 Inchcape is to acquire Lind Automotive Group, the car dealership with 21 retail sites in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Kent, for £71m. 05-May-2006 Inchcape is looking to expand its car dealership operations into Russia and China by setting up joint ventures. 02-Aug-2005 Inchcape Automotive is creating up to 60 new driving jobs at its Autograph Inspect and Collect service. 05-Jul-2005 Inchcape has acquired Robert Smith Group, the chain of six Mercedes dealerships and one Smart dealership in the North West, for £18m. 08-Apr-2005 Inchcape is to stop importing and distributing Ferrari and Maserati cars, as Fiat plans to take distribution back in-house from October. 26-Aug-2004 Inchcape is looking to expand its car distribution activities in Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, and is also seeking opportunities in China. 03-Aug-2004 Inchcape has acquired Southwell Motor, the operator of five Mercedes and Smart car dealerships in the East Midlands, for £28m. 29-Jun-2004 Inchcape has acquired six BMW dealerships from L&C Holdings and William Jacks for £19m, including sites in Banstead, Croydon, Sevenoaks, Tunbridge Wells, Cobham and Wimbledon. 05-Aug-2003 William Jacks is to sell its BMW and Mini car dealerships in Cobham and Wimbledon to Inchcape Estates for £6.2m. 17-Jul-2003 Inchcape is to close its vehicle contract hire business in Norwich next year with the loss of 65 jobs, in order to transfer the work to Inchcape Fleet Solutions in Portsmouth. 13-Sep-2002 Inchcape is to acquire the Gowrings Ford dealerships in Wokingham and Bracknell for £3.9m. 13-Aug-2002 Kia of South Korea is taking control of its UK car import and distribution business, by paying an undisclosed sum to Inchcape and Itochu Corporation. 09-Aug-2002 Mersey Docks & Harbour has acquired a 35-acre site at Queensborough on the Medway from Inchcape for £4.9m, in order to expand the volume of car imports through the Port of Sheerness. 23-Apr-2002 Inchcape has announced plans to restructure its business by creating three new divisions that will split its UK car retail and fleet operations from its logistics and refurbishment operations. 21-Jan-2002 Inchcape is acquiring the remaining 51% of Eurofleet, the vehicle preparation business, for £13m, as part of a strategy to expand its fleet management and business services operation. 12-Dec-2001 Inchcape and the AA are to invest £4m in the creation of a new and used car sales joint venture early next year. 04-Dec-2001 Avis Europe and Inchcape are forming a £3m joint venture called Auto-Cascade, in order to sell vehicles nearing the end of their rental life to dealers. 07-Sep-2001 Inchcape has acquired Bates Motor Group, the operator of 10 BMW, Audi and VW dealerships in the south east, for £22m. 03-Sep-2001 Inchcape is planning to spend an additional £60m on the expansion of its automotive retail business, and may also invest £100m in its motor services business. 07-Aug-2001 Inchcape has acquired two Volkswagen dealers, formerly known as Enterprise, in Telford and Bridgenorth. 18-May-2001 Inchcape has acquired the Toyota franchise on the Banbury Road in Oxford from the Sytner Group. 23-Mar-2001 Inchcape, the automotive services group, could be broken up under plans being put forward by its largest shareholder Guinness Peat. 16-Feb-2001 Inchcape is to stop distributing Toyota and Lexus vehicles in the UK, having sold its 49% stake in Toyota (GB) to Toyota Motor for £42m. 01-Aug-2000 Inchcape is investing £6m in the development of a European version of the Autobytel online car retailing business, which will act as an intermediary between customers and dealers in Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Portugal. 07-Jan-2000 Inchcape has sold its 50% stake in its Asia-Pacific office automation business to Ricoh of Japan for £31m, as part of a strategy to focus on the motor industry. 17-Aug-1999 Inchcape is planning to launch online car dealerships in continental Europe and Asia in partnership with Autobytel of the US. 10-Aug-1999 Inchcape has opened a new Rover car dealership in Southampton, under the Mann Egerton name. 21-Jun-1999 Inchcape is to close its Peugeot dealership in Reading with the loss of 50 jobs, as the franchise is being transferred to the Whichford group. 11-May-1999 Inchcape has won a 10-year contract from Fuji Heavy Industries to import and distribute Subaru vehicles in Australia. 07-May-1999 Inchcape is to lose a contract to import and distribute Chrysler and Jeep vehicles from the end of the year, as DaimlerChrysler says it now has the infrastructure to do it in-house. 24-Apr-1999 Inchcape has sold most of its marketing operations in the Middle East to Cupola Investments of Dubai for £72m, as part of a strategy to focus on its international automotive distribution activities. 02-Apr-1999 Inchcape has sold its shipping services division to Electra Fleming for £47m, and is now seeking to sell its marketing services business in the Middle East and an office automation business in Japan. 09-Feb-1999 Inchcape is to sell its Latin American bottling operation to Embotelladora Arica of Chile for $750m. 02-Feb-1999 Inchcape has sold its Asia-Pacific marketing business to Li & Fung for £93m. 09-Jan-1999 Inchcape has sold its Russian soft drinks bottling business to The Coca-Cola Company for $87m, and is now discussing the sale of its Latin American bottling business. 06-Oct-1998 Inchcape is to sell its Russian bottling operation to Coca-Cola for $187m, and is now looking to sell other businesses in order to raise up to £600m and focus on global car distribution. 11-Aug-1998 Inchcape has taken over the UK import franchise for the Italian Maserati sports car, and hopes to sell up to 600 cars a year. 06-May-1998 Inchcape is planning a £700m demerger, including its South American bottling business, its Far East marketing services business, the sale of shipping services and the sale of its Russian bottling business to Coca-Cola, in order to focus on its core motor distribution business. 03-Mar-1998 Inchcape is investing £41m in its Coca-Cola bottling plants in Peru, merging its Elsa business with other bottlers to create a company with a 90% share of Coca-Cola's sales in the country. 06-Nov-1997 Inchcape is planning to restructure its underperforming Pacific Asian businesses at a cost of £55m, but has declined to specify which divisions will be sold. 16-Sep-1997 Inchcape is setting up a new car retailing venture with Daihatsu of Japan which will involve selling Daihatsu cars to UK customers by visiting them at their homes and offices, eliminating the need for showrooms. 18-Aug-1997 Inchcape is to sell Kia Automobiles France, the French distributor of South Korean Kia vehicles, for a nominal sum. 24-Jan-1997 Inchcape is selling its Bain Hogg insurance broking business to Aon Corp of the US for £160m, having dropped plans to demerge it. 16-Oct-1996 Bain Hogg, the insurance broker about to be demerged from Inchcape, has set up a £20m provision to reorganise its activities and to fund the demerger. 11-Oct-1996 Inchcape's Bain Hogg insurance business is to merge its European activities with the non-French activites of the French broker, Cecar, in which it has a 40% stake. 27-Mar-1996 Inchcape plans to focus its efforts on distribution by selling its testing services division and demerging its insurance broking business. 26-Mar-1996 Inchcape has bought a 25% stake in Embotelladora Latinoamericana, Peru's largest bottler of Coca Cola, for £22m. 13-Mar-1996 Inchcape has decided against selling its Bain Hogg insurance broking business, and instead plans to float it in a few years time. 21-Dec-1995 Inchcape is said to be receiving interest from companies wanting to buy its Bain Hogg international insurance operation. 15-Dec-1995 Inchcape is to undergo a major programme of disposals and cost-cutting, as it has been suffering from a downturn in its Japanese-car distribution business. 26-Sep-1995 The information above comes from the UK Activity Report Copyright UK Business Park 1995-2008