Japan Pulp and Paper (JP) has announced its plan to buy a 51% stake in the soon-to-be merged businesses of Australiasian paper and packaging suppliers BJ Ball (Page Pack Pty Ltd) and KW Doggett.
In a deal subject to several approvals, including that of the ACCC, BJ Ball, an importer and wholesaler of paper, packaging and related products and KW Doggett, importer and merchant of fine papers are set to merge their businesses, and JP will purchase a 51% stake in the merged entity to the value of A$84m.
The group plans to buy the remaining 49% stake over the next few years, taking the total acquisition close to A$240m.
In reports from Tokyo, the impetus for the acquisition is cited as a shrinking domestic paper market and an urgent need to strengthen JP's business base in the Oceania market.
JP says it expects to form a leading corporate group importing and selling paper and paper products and “greatly raise its presence in the paper and packaging wholesale market in the Oceania region”.
At the same time, it will promote further strengthening and utilisation of the JP Group global network, and enable greater synergy from supplying the many and varied products handled by JP to the entity resulting from the merger of the BJ Ball Group (the AU and NZ companies) and Doggett.
JP was founded in 1845 and has the largest paper and paperboard distribution business in Japan. It has a global network spanning 22 countries and 50 cities with strengths in procuring from domestic and overseas pulp and paper manufacturers.
BJ Ball, which was established in 1918, is a major player in the region, comprising a number of specialised business units servicing the print and packaging industries and with six sites in Australia and five in New Zealand.
Family owned and operated K.W. Doggett Fine Paper is an established player in the Australian print and packaging industries, founded in 1975. According to JP, the company was an early adopter of online sales and its strength lies in a product lineup built to closely match to the needs of its customers.
