Sands & Mac changes hands for a third time

OFFICE supply business Sands & McDougall is about to change hands for the third time in two and a half years.

The latest buyer is national company Corporate Express Australia, which has entered into a purchase agreement with Coles Myer subsidiary Officeworks.

Corporate Express managing director Grant Harrod said the acquisition of Sands & McDougall, which has an annual turnover of about $20 million, was due to be finalised on October 10. He said settlement had been deferred so that Corporate Express had time to move into its new distribution centre in Kewdale, in the former Wool-worths premises on Miles Road.

Corporate Express would then be able to merge Sands & McDougall’s distribution centre in Burswood with its own distribution centre.

Mr Harrod said the branding of Sands & McDougall’s seven retail stores in Perth “probably will transition across” to Corporate Express.

This would strengthen brand recognition of Corporate Express, which already has three regional offices in WA, in Bunbury, Karratha and Kalgoorlie.

Like other players in the office supply industry, it is focussed primarily on building direct sales to corporate clients.

The sale of Sands & McDougall comes only nine months after Officeworks acquired the WA business, as part of its purchase of US-owned Viking Office Products, which was the leading direct marketer of office products in Australia.

Viking, in turn, had only owned Sands & McDougall for 18 months, having bought it from founders Bill Keogh and Mark Smyth in April 2001.

Mr Harrod said the acquisition of Sands & McDougall was part of Corporate Express’s ‘single source’ strategy.

The company has used acquisitions to broaden its product range and expand its geographic coverage.

The change of ownership will not affect the planned sale of Sands & McDougall’s administration building at 905 Burswood Road, which has been on the market since May.

CB Richard Ellis managing director Peter Agostino said the property, owned by a syndicate of Perth investors, was presently under contract.

Corporate Express’s plan to close the administration centre at Burswood could be fortuitous for the new owner of the building, which has development approval for a 12-storey apartment development.