turn things around and began making significant business divestments, including selling the Bain Hogg insurance brokerage subsidiary (formed by the merger of Inchcape's brokerage operation with Bain Clarkson, and the Hogg Group in 1994 and ranked the eleventh largest broker in the world in 1995) to the Aon Corporation in the United States for £160 million in 1996. In the same year the testing service division was part of a management buy-out by Charterhouse Development Capital and renamed Intertek Testing Services. In March 1998 spurred by the Asian economic crisis, Inchcape announced, that it would focus exclusively on worldwide car distribution, the most successful part of the group. One of the first major sectors to go was the company's Russian soft-drink bottling business. Inchcape sold that part of their operations to The Coca-Cola Company for US$87 million. The sales of bottling businesses in South America, marketing services in Asia and the Middle East, the global shipping business – Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS) – and the Asia-Pacific Office Automation business were some of the wide range of divestments that quickly followed. In July 1999 the new motors-only Inchcape was officially born. 2000–present In June 2000 Peter Johnson became chief executive officer. The economic recovery in the Far East helped restore profits as did the sale of Inchcape's forty nine per cent stake in Toyota GB to Toyota in 2000. In 2006 André Lacroix took over as CEO and in 2007 Inchcape acquired European Motor Holdings, a leading European motor retailer. Then Stefan Bomhard took over as CEO in January 2015. In December 2022, Inchcape announced its £1.3 billion GBP acquisition of Latin America’s largest independent automotive distributor, Derco, had been approved by Peruvian authorities. Operations As of 2021, Inchcape operates in these countries: Europe United Kingdom Belgium Luxembourg Poland Lithuania Latvia Estonia Finland Romania Bulgaria North Macedonia Greece Russia Americas & Africa El Salvador Costa Rica Panama Colombia Ecuador Peru Chile Argentina Uruguay Djibouti Ethiopia Kenya Asia-Pacific Hong Kong Thailand Brunei Macau Singapore Guam Saipan Australia References Bibliography External links Official site Inchcape Fleet Solutions Inchcape Retail UK Yahoo profile Wholesalers of the United Kingdom Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Auto dealerships of the United Kingdom Business services companies established in 1847 Retail companies established in 1847 British brands Companies based in the City of Westminster 1847 establishments in British India Indian companies established in 1847