ITOCHU reaches agreement to acquire Kwik-Fit Group, UK　No.1　tyre retailer

March 3, 2011

On March 1, 2011, ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo, Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) and ITOCHU Europe PLC (headquartered in London, UK; Takeshi Kumekawa, CEO) have agreed, subject to certain conditions, to acquire all the shares of the Kwik-Fit Group (hereinafter “Kwik-Fit” or “the Group”), an independent tyre retailer in the UK and Europe, from PAI Partners (hereinafter “PAI”), a European private equity firm. The agreed enterprise value is £637 million.

The acquisition is conditional upon approval from the European Competition Authorities and successful completion of the consultation process with its French Works Council.

Kwik-Fit, established in 1971, is an independent tyre retailer with Europe’s largest service point network comprising 1,218 directly-managed tyre fitting centres in the UK, France and Holland. The Group’s turnover in 2010 was £875 million, of which the Group’s major business, Kwik-Fit UK, with 673 centres, represented £561 million. Kwik-Fit is the market leader in the UK and Holland, trading under the well known brand name “Kwik-Fit”, as well as having a leadership position in the fleet business segment.

ITOCHU and its subsidiaries operate various tyre-related businesses globally. In the UK, ITOCHU operates STAPLETONS (TYRE SERVICES) LTD. (headquartered in Letchworth Garden City, UK; Kenji Murai, CEO hereinafter “STS”), a leading wholesaler, offering excellent delivery services and a wide range of products. STS also established its own retail network with 110 service points, the fourth largest number of outlets in the UK. Through this acquisition, ITOCHU will strive to enhance its tyre business by leveraging Kwik-Fit’s network and strong brand and STS’s strong logistics capability and its management know-how of retail operations to generate synergies among all tyre-related businesses of ITOCHU.

Kwik-Fit UK

Corporate Name Kwik-Fit (GB) Limited
URL http://www.kwik-fit.com/[Open in a new window]
Head Office 216 East Main Street Broxburn, EH52 5AS United Kingdom
Representative Ian Fraser (Group CEO & UK Managing Director)
Established 1971
Number of centres 673 (as of the end of 2010, the largest in UK)
Annual sales £561 million (2010)
Number of Employees 4,602 (as at the end of 2010)

Kwik-Fit Group

Number of centres 1,218 (as of the end of 2010, directly-managed centres only*)
Annual sales £875 million (2010)
Number of Employees 7,361 (as at the end of 2010)
  • There are also 302 franchisee centres

STAPLETON’S (TYRE SERVICES) LTD

Corporate Name STAPLETON’S (TYRE SERVICES) LTD
URL http://www.stapletons-tyres.co.uk[Open in a new window]
Head Office Fourth Avenue, Letchworth, Hertfordshire, SG6 2TT, UK
Representative Kenji Murai (CEO)
Established 1937
Number of centres 110 (as at end of February 2011, 4th largest in UK)
Annual sales £304 million (FY 2010)
Number of Employees 1,106 (as at end of February 2011)