AMA has announced its intention to buy Melbourne chain Woods Accident Repair Centres.
'AMA Group Limited have entered into contractual arrangements with Woods Accident Repair Centres to provide all the services for the Woods operations for six months and to secure an option to acquire Woods at the end of that period for an agreed price,' the statement says.
Woods has 14 repair facilities in Melbourne, AMA has 11 in Melbourne and one in Queensland. AMA Group executive chairman Ray Malone said: "We are very excited about this opportunity because we believe that the integration successes we have already experienced with our recent panel business acquisitions can be replicated.
"Our tried and tested productivity and efficiency programs, as well as our group product sourcing initiatives, should suit Woods and ultimately provide us with great upside from that business and facilitate further efficiencies across the wider group," Malone said.
The pruchase prices is an agreed up-front cash payment of $2million and then an earn out period over two or three years, post completion. AMA's Vehicle Panel Repair segment including Woods would have a revenue in excess of $80million per annum.
A bullish Malone told Paint & Panel that he feels the smash repair arena is "filled with opportunity."
"We're delighted about the Woods Group, it's a great business with great people and we will benefit from their experience. We have lot of good people in our group now such as Dennis Smart, Phil Munday and Bruce Blackburn and it isn't by chance that we aligned with them."
"AMA Group will continue to acquire complementary businesses to broaden our footprint throughout Australia. There are several other opportunities in our acquisition pipeline that we are currently evaluating," Malone said.