The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has cleared the proposed acquisition of OfficeMax Australia by Platinum Equity.
Platinum Equity owns Winc (formerly Staples Australia) and sought to acquire OfficeMax Australia. Both Winc and OfficeMax supply office products to commercial and government customers in Australia. The ACCC issued a Statement of Issues expressing some concerns with the proposed acquisition. Frontier Economics (Asia-Pacific) was retained by lawyers for Platinum Equity to provide economic advice. Frontier Economics provided empirical analysis of demand for product categories and demand by purchaser categories. The ACCC decided that although the merger could lessen competition, it did not meet the threshold of causing a 'substantial lessening of competition'.
Frontier Economics regularly undertakes empirical analysis for clients in competition matters.
