ACCO Brands’ global CEO Tom Tedford provides some insights into the Australian division’s purchase of Buro Seating. 

 

ACCO announced the purchase of the New Zealand-based seating supplier earlier this year, with the deal closing in early March. Below are Tedford’s responses to some follow-up questions from OPI’s  Andy Braithwaite.:

 

OPI: Please provide some background to this move.

Tom Tedford: The acquisition is a result of strategy work the local business undertook to identify product categories that were projected to grow in the ANZ market. Attractive targets needed to be brand owners, develop value-add products, have sustainable product offerings and play in distribution channels that the current business serves. We felt Buro was a great fit for our company and are excited to have completed the acquisition.

 

OPI: To what extent were you actively looking at this category, or was it more a case of an opportunity that became available?

TT: ACCO Brands EMEA successfully introduced a line of ergonomic seating solutions recently and, as mentioned above, the local ACCO Brands ANZ team targeted this product category. They had already held some talks with the Buro owners pre-COVID, with more serious discussions commencing post-pandemic.

Additionally, our local team received market intelligence from the independent OP channel that furniture is an important category. Therefore, it made sense from a customer perspective for ACCO Brands to enter it in ANZ.

 

OPI: Does Buro have its own manufacturing and/or assembly facilities in ANZ, or are products imported from the Far East?

TT: The majority of products are sourced from third-party, Asia-based manufacturers. Both the Australian and New Zealand businesses do a number of value-added services, including upholstery and assembly when products are specified for office fit-outs. The Australian business also has a range that is ‘Australian Made’, which is assembled onshore from domestic components.

 

OPI: How many Buro staff will move over to ACCO as part of the deal? And do they include [General Manager] Tim Howard?

TT: The majority of the Buro team have transitioned to ACCO Brands. Yes, Tim has come on board and is now a member of the ACCO Brands local leadership team. He will continue to lead the front end of the business, managing sales, marketing and customer care relating to the furniture category.

 

OPI: Furniture distribution is somewhat different to OP distribution. What are some of the changes you will have to make in your warehousing/supply chain to accommodate these seating products? Will you have an in-house installation team, for example?

TT: The OP channel is a significant portion of Buro’s sales, enabling distribution synergies for our customers. For clients that are new to ACCO Brands, they should experience no significant changes. Additionally, for these new customers, they can now take advantage of ACCO Brands broad product offering, such as in the visual communications category.

We are committed to providing category-leading service to all the channels we serve in ANZ. We have a national network of third-party installation partners across both Australia and New Zealand.

 

OPI: To what extent have you identified (or will you explore) the potential of expanding the Buro product line-up to other regions, or is this really an ANZ-specific acquisition?

TT: At the present time, we are focused on our customer base in ANZ. We do believe there will be opportunities to expand the range in other markets over time.

 

For more global news from OPI, go to https://www.opi.net/news/region/003-australasia/acco-provides-anz-acquis...