The New Zealand Commerce Commission (NZCC) has approved the sale of office products business Winc NZ, formerly Staples, to Tiri Group, a private company 85 percent owned by Tom Sturgess, the chairman of NZ printing business Blue Star Group.
“The Commission has approved the purchase of Winc by TSPV1 Limited (a subsidiary of the Tiri Group Limited),” the NZCC said in a statement. “The transaction was completed on 2 July 2018.”
US private equity giant Platinum Equity agreed to sell Winc NZ earlier this year after the NZCC joined High Court proceedings filed by competitor Complete Office Solutions (COS) to prevent Platinum from acquiring OfficeMax over concerns the acquisition would “substantially lessen competition.”
The sale of Winc NZ allows Platinum to push ahead with its plan to acquire OfficeMax in Australia and NZ from Office Depot.
Australia’s corporate regulator the ACCC gave the go-ahead to Platinum’s proposed acquisition of OfficeMax Australia in November. Beverly Hills-based Platinum, a multi-billion-dollar global private equity firm specialising in mergers and acquisitions, intends to merge OfficeMax Australia with Winc Australia.
Blue Star NZ includes print businesses McCollams (Auckland), Format Print (Wellington), Nicholson Print (Auckland), and Rapid Labels (Auckland). In 2014, Blue Star and Tiri Group brought together their labels assets and formed labels and packaging business Hexagon Holdings.