Ridgeview offers to buy UK's Pinewood Technologies at £545 million valuation

July 24 (Reuters) - U.S. tech private equity firm Ridgeview offered to buy Britain's Pinewood Technologies for 448 pence per share, the companies said on Friday, valuing the automotive service provider at £545 million ($726.10 million).

The offer represents a premium of about 42% to Pinewood's closing price of 315 pence on Friday.

• Pinewood Technologies said it would be inclined to recommend a bid to shareholders if Ridgeview announces a firm intention to make an offer.

• Ridgeview has to make a firm bid by August 21.

• In January, Pinewood Technologies shares surged as much as 28% after it said that it was set to agree a £575.5 million deal with Apax Partners if the private equity firm tables a formal offer.

• Apax withdrew its offer the following month, citing challenging market conditions, sending Pinewood's shares down 25% to 325 pence.

• Pinewood Technologies provides a cloud-based platform to help car dealerships and manufacturers manage everything from vehicle sales and customer relationships to repairs and accounting.

• The company had a market valuation of £362.56 million as of Friday's close.

($1 = 0.7506 pounds)

(Reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh in Barcelona; Editing by Vijay Kishore)