The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is to conduct a “public review” of the OfficeMax acquisition by Platinum Equity.
Stationary News reported that the acquisition of OfficeMax Australia and New Zealand by the American company Platinum Equity was first announced in April this year and although there has not been a public announcement the likelihood of a merger of Staples and OfficeMax is rumoured to be the most “logical outcome of the dual acquisition”.
Once Platinum Equity submits its proposal the ACCC will start the public review and last month Stationary News received a statement from the ACCC which said: “The ACCC is aware of media speculation about Platinum Equity’s possible acquisition of OfficeMax. If such a transaction proceeds, the ACCC expects that we would conduct a public review to assess the likely effects on competition. This would include consultation with customers and competitors.”
The merger of the two companies, Staples and OfficeMax, was given the go ahead by Australian and New Zealand regulators in 2015 as “part of a global deal” but it didn’t happen. Nevertheless, according to the Australian Financial Review, the ACCC has showed signs that it would probably “take a different view of the merger” since industrial developments after 2015