Corporate watchdog the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has delayed its decision on the proposed acquisition of OfficeMax Australia by US-based private equity firm Platinum Equity.
The deal would give the Californian investment company two of the three major chains in Australia’s $10 billion-a-year office supplies market, after it bought the local Staples unit in March.
The ACCC had planned to announce its ruling by 20 July but has now requested “further information from the parties” and says it will announce a proposed decision date “in due course.”
In Australia, Staples and OfficeMax supply office products, primarily to business and government customers through online ordering platforms.
The ACCC’s review has focused on the impact on competition, and it asked interested parties: whether prices of office products will increase, or service levels decrease, as a result of the proposed acquisition; how closely Staples and OfficeMax compete with each other; the extent of competition from other office products suppliers such as Complete Office Supplies (COS), Lyreco and Officeworks; and to what extent Amazon would be likely to provide a competitive constraint on a merged Staples/OfficeMax business.
OfficeMax and Staples both offer a range of printing, print management and marketing services.