MaxiPARTS Limited (ASX: MXI) today announces that it has entered into a Share Purchase Agreement with Förch Australia Pty Ltd to acquire the 80% of the shares of Förch Australia Pty Ltd for an estimated $9.7 million in cash, subject to customary working capital adjustments.

Förch Australia is a distributor of workshop consumables, primarily focused on automotive and commercial vehicle workshops, with company-owned operations in Western Australia and Victoria alongside a third-party dealer in Brisbane.

Operating as a stand-alone business under the MaxiPARTS Limited portfolio, Förch Australia provides an adjacent product offering that compliments the existing MaxiPARTS brand, which distributes commercial vehicle parts. Förch Australia holds an exclusive agreement with German company Theo FÖRCH GmbH & Co KG to distribute FÖRCH products across Australia until 2030.

"The acquisition of Förch Australia is an exciting step forward in the development of MaxiPARTS Limited and is fully aligned with the company's acquisition criteria as both businesses share a set of core business operating and success factors," said MaxiPARTS Managing Director and CEO, Peter Loimaranta.

"Both businesses have a small level of customer crossover, and we expect introducing the Förch business to our existing customers will provide immediate growth opportunities for both businesses."

All employees of Förch Australia, including the two current owners, will remain with the business post-acquisition. Current owners of Förch Australia, Terry Childs and Peter Burgess, will each retain 10% ownership of Förch Australia with a put and call option in place that can be exercised by either party between two and five years post-completion. Both Childs and Burgess will remain Executive Directors of Förch Australia. They will be responsible for the day-to-day operation of the Förch Australia business, reporting to the MaxiPARTS Limited Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.

No shareholder or regulatory approvals are required, and there will be no changes to the existing MaxiPARTS Limited Board of Directors and Executive Team due to the transaction. The acquisition is expected to be completed at the end of May 2023.