Billionaire James Packer Invests in Online Retail
Dealsdirect.com
The allure of online retailing has befallen Australian billionaire James Packer as he reportedly made investments in DealsDirect.com.
Ellerston Capital, the holding company of the Packer family's Consolidated Press Holdings, bought some minority stocks at DealsDirect.com on Monday, reports compiled from the Australian Financial Review and the Sydney Morning Herald indicated.
The transaction has been estimated to be worth $10 million and signals the further growth of online retail and ecommerce in Australia.
Dealsdirect.com, is one of the leading online retailers in Australia and in the last two years have exceeded the performance of the traditional retail stores.
"It signals a real coming of age for online retail, with businesses like Ellerston getting into the game, it is well and truly 'game on'," said DealsDirect's co-founder Paul Greenberg in SMH.
Mr Greenberg said that this new investments will allow the company to build more on their relative strengths and expand further their initiatives in the e-commerce industry.
"We intend to grow our market share and enthusiastically pursue growth opportunities and this vote of confidence by Ellerston Capital allows us to do this rapidly," Mr Greenburg added.
DealsDirect has more than 1.5 million unique browsers each month buying an item about once every 20 seconds, the company said. The investment from the Packer-controlled Ellerston Capital will allow the online retailer to make acquisitions and access strategic support while it seeks to consolidate its position in the e-commerce space, SMH said.