The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will not oppose the merger of printers PMP (ASX: PMP) and IPMG.
PMP and IPMG are both suppliers of heatset web offset printing services, which are used to print magazines and advertising catalogues.
“This was a finely balanced decision. While the ACCC considers that the merger is likely to lessen competition, we do not believe that it reaches the threshold of being a substantial lessening of competition,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.
“Market conditions have changed since the ACCC opposed a proposed merger between PMP and IPMG in 2001. There has been a significant reduction in demand for magazine printing and there is excess capacity in the industry.”
“Furthermore, the IVE group has recently expanded through acquisitions and winning major tenders. We consider that IVE is likely to constrain the merged company. Other smaller printers and newspaper publishers also compete in the market,” Mr Sims said.
The ACCC will release a Public Competition Assessment outlining further information about its conclusions in due course.
Further information is on the ACCC's public register.
Background
PMP prints catalogues and magazines on printing presses located at its print sites in Moorebank, NSW, Clayton, Vic, Wacol, Qld, and Bibra Lake, WA.
IPMG’s printing businesses include: Hannanprint, Offset Alpine, Bolton Print and Inprint, which print a range of magazine, catalogue, direct mail, newspaper and other publications. IPMG’s print facilities are located in Warwick Farm and Lidcombe, NSW; Noble Park, Vic; and Geebung and Cairns (Bolton Print site), Qld.
Historically, PMP and IPMG have been the two largest heatset web offset printers in Australia. The ACCC opposed the two merging in 2001.
On 13 December 2016, IVE completed the acquisition of Franklin, a specialist catalogue printer based in Sunshine, Victoria and AIW which primarily prints catalogues as well as some magazines in Springvale, Victoria.