Platinum Equity looks set to acquire OfficeMax, which would give the US-based equity firm two of the three major chains in Australia’s $10 billion-a-year office supplies market.
Platinum has been granted ‘exclusivity status’ over its major rival in the auction process for OfficeMax - Office Depot’s Australian and New Zealand business – according to a report in The Australian Financial Review.
OfficeMax, the country's No.3 player, has been up for sale through adviser Goldman Sachs with Platinum understood to have seen off private equity firm Adamantem Capital during the process.
Platinum will need to secure the approval of both Australian and Kiwi competition regulators. This won't be easy, with the Australian government - perhaps the biggest user of stationary [sic] in the country, understood to be one of the customers least impressed with the potential loss of competition in the market.
OfficeMax's specialist print management division OfficeMax Print Solutions offers a range of services from pre-production and design, through to procurement, marketing and distribution.
Two weeks ago, Platinum agreed to buy the Australian division of office products company Staples – the second largest business in the local office supplies market. Staples also offers a range of print and marketing services.
California-based global investment firm Platinum, which specializes in mergers and acquisitions, has more than $US11 billion of assets under management. The company owns a 70 per cent stake in Telstra’s White Pages and Yellow Pages business Sensis.
Meanwhile, Wesfarmers, the owner of Officeworks, is said to be still considering an IPO for the third and largest of Australia’s three major office supply chains.