Harvey Norman founder and chief executive Gerry Harvey indicated he’s also interested in buying whitegoods and electronics retailer The Good Guys.
His expression follows just a day after rival retailer JB Hi-Fi confessed it was in “exploratory discussions” to acquire The Good Guys, adding that no official agreement has been made.
Harvey said that he was prepared to pay up to $900 million for The Good Guys, reported Fairfax Media, but would seek approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission before making a bid.
The businessman said that “if there is an argument they (JB Hi-Fi) could buy it, then equally there is as good an argument that we could buy it".
"I would seriously look at it if I could get clearance from the ACCC," he told Fairfax.
The concern, if any, from the ACCC would be that an acquisition by either JB Hi-Fi or Harvey Norman would give the company an unfair market share advantage with the addition of 100 Good Guys stores. The ACCC is yet to comment on any potential acquisition.
A JB Hi-Fi acquisition would give it a larger market share in terms of store locations by adding to its network, which is due to reach 194 outlets by the end of the 2016 financial year. Fifty-eight of those would be JB Hi-Fi Home appliance stores.
Harvey Norman has around 194 franchise stores in Australia.
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