When you are asked to attend a meeting at a Telford hotel by the directors of two of the UK's biggest and most troubled wholesalers, you know something is afoot.
So when I received the exclusive invitation earlier this week, I was not surprised to learn that Palmer & Harvey and Makro were joining forces.
What I was surprised to learn, however, was the nature of the alliance a new buying group called PalMak. As alliances go, they're not the likeliest of couples. P&H is a delivered wholesaler, strong in independent retailing and with no catering customers. Makro is a cash & carry operator, has only just started trialling deliveries, and counts the catering trade as its biggest customer. The two wholesalers insist that PalMak is purely a buying alliance but, under terms set out by the OFT, the synergies of such an alliance are trifling.
A merger would make for better sense. P&H and Makro have a lot to offer each other and would move the enlarged company into new areas. If PalMak works, will a merger prove too tempting to resist?
So when I received the exclusive invitation earlier this week, I was not surprised to learn that Palmer & Harvey and Makro were joining forces.
What I was surprised to learn, however, was the nature of the alliance a new buying group called PalMak. As alliances go, they're not the likeliest of couples. P&H is a delivered wholesaler, strong in independent retailing and with no catering customers. Makro is a cash & carry operator, has only just started trialling deliveries, and counts the catering trade as its biggest customer. The two wholesalers insist that PalMak is purely a buying alliance but, under terms set out by the OFT, the synergies of such an alliance are trifling.
A merger would make for better sense. P&H and Makro have a lot to offer each other and would move the enlarged company into new areas. If PalMak works, will a merger prove too tempting to resist?
No comments yet