$2M MyMac sale falls through

A multimillion-dollar acquisition deal struck in February for Apple reseller, MyMac Australia, has fallen through.

Singapore-headquartered Apple electronics retailer, Story-i, revealed on 8 February that it had entered into a non-binding agreement to acquire MyMac Australia Pty Ltd.

Story-i, which is also publicly-listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), specialises in a range of Apple Products and its accessories, software and other devices related to Apple. It owns and operates 19 stores in 10 cities throughout Indonesia and Vietnam.

The total consideration payable for the proposed acquisition was $2 million, with the payment of 20 per cent in cash and the balance of 80 per cent of the sale price to be settled by the issue of shares in Story-I at A$0.0625 per share.

However, the deal remained subject to a number of conditions, including approval from Apple, approval from shareholders and, most importantly, the completion of due diligence by both parties.

However, on 3 July, roughly five months after striking the agreement, Story-i told shareholders that the deal had fallen through.

“Story-i Limited advises that it has mutually agreed with the vendors of MyMac Australia Pty Ltd to terminate the proposed acquisition,” the company said.

“Each party has agreed to meet its own cost of the transaction and there are no outstanding obligations between the parties,” it said.

Story-i did not elaborate on the reasons behind the decision to terminate the proposed acquisition.

The recent history of MyMac Australia has been peppered with turmoil.

Owner of the MyMac brand, Steve Bardel, sold the company to Broad Investments in 2015 for $200,000 in cash and shares.

However, Bardel subsequently moved to purchase the company back in 2016 for $150,000 in cash and shares after launching legal action against Broad Investments over the winding up of one of its subsidiaries.

By September last year, Broad Investments, which is also listed on the ASX, called on shareholders to vote in favour of its plan to offload the MyMac and Monstamac businesses, just 18 months after buying them.

By late October 2016, ownership of the MyMac business, and other reseller businesses, Monstamac and MonstalPOS, fell back into the hands of Bardel, with the sale completing on 21 October.

The company, which is an Apple Premium Service Provider, operates Apple Authorised Reseller stores in Melbourne and Hobart, also provides cloud Integration services.

Before dropping the deal, Story-Ii’s acquisition of MyMac was expected to further provide the company with geographical diversification in line with its growth strategy.