Australian Newsagency Blog

The Sydney Morning Herald reported this morning that Pacific Equity Partners (shareholders in Angus & Robertson and Supanews) are front runners:

But the private equity group Pacific Equity Partners is considered the front runner for Borders, given its ownership of Angus & Robertson and its desire to create a big book retailer to float on the sharemarket in the next 12 months.

In addition to the 180 Angus & Robertson shops, PEP owns the New Zealand bookseller Whitcoulls and the newsagency chain Supanews. PEP bought Supanews eight months ago to bulk up its retailing business.

A PEP victory with smart management around the Supanews brand and rejigging of their flawed (in my view) franchise model cold introduce some tough competition for newsagents.