One of Australia's leading online retailers, Kogan.com, has bought one of New Zealand's biggest, Mighty Ape.
Entrepreneur and Kogan.com founder Ruslan Kogan. Photo: Supplied
Kogan is paying $AU122.4 million (NZ$128m) for the New Zealand company.
Mighty Ape sells electronic games, board games, toys, homewares, collectibles and consumer electronics, and is forecast to earn $NZ15m in operatings earnings from revenues of $145m in the year ended March. It has had a solid lift in sales during the pandemic.
Kogan.com chief financial officer David Shafer said the acquisition was putting two market leaders together and was a natural strategic fit.
"We are a natural home for Mighty Ape, given similar histories and shared values ... Mighty Ape will give us significant scale in New Zealand and further strength across a variety of operational dimensions."
Mighty Ape was founded in 2008 by Simon Barton and has more than 690,000 unique customers and more than 895,000 subscribers, about a third of the size of Kogan.com.
"Combining with Kogan.com will assist Mighty Ape to expand our product range and improve our customer experience," he said.
Barton and other MIghty Ape staff would stay on at the company until at least financial year 2023.
Shafer said Kogan.com would draw on Mighty Ape's deep experience in gaming, toys and other entertainment products and the New Zealand market generally to grow sales while Mighty Ape would be able use its new parent's sourcing, technology, systems, infrastructure, and marketplace capabilities to improve its offering.
Kogan.com was founded in 2006 by colourful entrepreneur, Ruslan Kogan, and is a diversified online retailer which bought parts of the collapsed Dick Smith retail chain in 2016. Kogan, 38, features on Australia's rich list and listed the company on the Australian stock exchange four years ago.