Acquisition of Mighty Ape Limited

Canterbury Partners is pleased to have acted as lead advisor to Kogan.com Limited (‘Kogan.com’) on its acquisition of 100% of the issued capital of Mighty Ape Limited (‘Mighty Ape’), a leading online retailer in New Zealand.

Mighty Ape operates online stores in New Zealand & Australia, and is a leading online retailer in New Zealand with more than 690,000 unique customers and more than 895,000 subscribers. Mighty Ape has a reputation for fast delivery and excellent customer service, demonstrated by Mighty Ape achieving Kantar’s highest rank among retailers in New Zealand for customer experience. Mighty Ape has significant operations in New Zealand, employing 161 permanent FTE, as well as operating a purpose-built distribution centre near Auckland.

A highly complementary acquisition of one of New Zealand’s leading online retailers, this acquisition combines two market leaders, enabling Mighty Ape to build on its strong customer offering, and providing the infrastructure and expertise for Mighty Ape to further scale.

Accessing immediate scale in New Zealand, and with significant synergies likely to be available across numerous areas of the business, Mighty Ape is a natural strategic acquisition choice for Kogan.com.

Mighty Ape has been a founder-led New Zealand online retail icon for over a decade, becoming one of New Zealand’s most loved and trusted retail brands, and building a growing presence in Australia.

Kogan.com COO and CFO David Shafer said, “We are pleased to be bringing the iconic Mighty Ape into the Kogan Group and are delighted to be welcoming Simon Barton and his team. We are a natural home for Mighty Ape, given similar histories and shared values — most importantly our obsession with delighting customers, and continually improving the online shopping experience. Mighty Ape has more than a decade of experience and track record of delighting Kiwi customers and has become one of New Zealand’s most trusted brands.”

“Mighty Ape will give us significant scale in New Zealand and further strength across a variety of operational dimensions. We will be drawing on Mighty Ape’s deep experience in gaming, toys, other entertainment product categories and the New Zealand market, and combining this experience with Kogan.com’s sourcing, technology, systems, infrastructure, and marketplace capabilities, to further enhance the group’s already market-leading offering across the Tasman.”

“We look forward to serving and delighting customers throughout New Zealand and Australia in an ever-widening range of categories, as smart shoppers increasingly turn online for their shopping needs.”

ClientKogan.comYear2020