Preliminary Issues: Mainland Print Inkwise acquisition

Media Release

Issued 1 April 2019
Release No. 128

Statement of Preliminary Issues released for Mainland Print’s application to acquire Inkwise

The Commerce Commission has published a statement of preliminary issues relating to an application from Mainland Print Limited to acquire the heatset and coldset web offset printing assets of Inkwise Limited.

The statement outlines the key competition issues that the Commission considers important in deciding whether or not to grant clearance to the proposed acquisition.

The Commission invites interested parties to provide comments on the likely competitive effects of the proposed acquisition. Submissions can be sent by email to registrar@comcom.govt.nz with the reference Mainland/Inkwise in the subject line. Parties should provide a public version of their submission at the same time for publication on the Commission’s case register. Any submissions should be received by close of business on Monday 15 April 2019.

The Commission is currently scheduled to make a decision on the application by 16 May 2019. However, this date may be extended as the investigation progresses.

The Statement of Preliminary Issues and a public version of the application can be found on the on the Commission’s case register.

Background

Mainland is a recently established joint venture company owned in equal shares by Blue Star Group (New Zealand) Limited and Allied Press Limited.

Inkwise and Blue Star provide heatset printing services to magazine publishers and retail catalogue customers in New Zealand. Inkwise and Allied Press provide coldset printing services to newspaper publishers in the South Island.

We will give clearance to a proposed merger if we are satisfied that the merger is unlikely to have the effect of substantially lessening competition in a market.

Further information explaining how the Commission assesses a merger application is available on ourwebsite.

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