Ford Buys U.K. Car Parts Chain

Ford Motor Company on Monday said it has made a $1.62 billion offer to buy Britain's Kwik-Fit Holdings PLC.

Ford is offering 560 pence in cash per share for the company, which is the U.K.'s largest independent car repair chair. The U.S. carmaker said it's paying a 33 percent premium over Kwik-Fit's closing share price on Friday, and worth a multiple of 21.5 times the company's earnings per share for the year ended Feb. 28. this year.

In a statement, Jacques Nasser, president and chief executive of Ford (F) said: "the acquisition of Kwik-Fit is an important step towards Ford's goal to become the world's leading consumer company that provides automotive products and services."

The U.K. car parts company is based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and employs 9,500 people with outlets in seven European countries, including Holland, France, Germany and Belgium.

On March 18, it reported that full-year net income rose 17.5 percent after it had opened 52 new repair centers. Kwik-Fit now runs some 850 service centers in the U.K.

Written By Suzanne Miller, CBS MarketWatch