Overseas investment decision for case 201320058 - Office Depot, Inc.

An overseas investment in sensitive land, being the Applicant's acquisition of rights or interests in up to 100% of the shares of OfficeMax Incorporated, resulting in the Applicant indirectly acquiring OfficeMax Holdings Limited which owns or controls:

• a leasehold interest in approximately 5.7740 hectares of land at 196-208 Middleton Road, Johnsonville, Wellington; and
• a leasehold interest in approximately 2.3811 hectares of land at 460 Rosebank Road, Avondale, Auckland.

An overseas investment in significant business assets, being the Applicant's acquisition of rights or interests in up to 100% of the shares of OfficeMax Incorporated, resulting in the Applicant indirectly acquiring OfficeMax Holdings Limited, the value of the assets of OfficeMax Holdings Limited and its 25% or more subsidiaries exceeds $100m.

The Applicant proposes to amalgamate its business operations with OfficeMax Incorporated which will indirectly result in the acquisition by the Applicant of OfficeMax Holdings Limited (the operating company for the OfficeMax business in New Zealand). Among other things, the transaction will result in OfficeMax’s New Zealand business upgrading its ‘in store’ retail offering, selling additional product lines to OfficeMax Australia and new sponsorship in New Zealand.

The overseas investment transaction has satisfied the criteria in sections 16 and 18 of the Overseas Investment Act 2005. The 'benefit to New Zealand' criterion was satisfied by particular reference to the following factors:

Overseas Investment Act 2005
17(2)(a)(i) – Jobs
17(2)(a)(iii) – Increased export receipts

Overseas Investment Regulations 2005
28(a) – Consequential benefits
28(c) – Affect image