Staples Wants To Merge With Office Depot Again in $2.1 Billion Deal

[broadstreet zone=”59945″]

FRAMINGHAM – Staples wants to merge with Office Depot again.

Four years after the U.S. Government denied the merger of the two companies, Staples is proposing a $2.1 billion deal.

The Federal Trade Commission ruled four years ago that the merger of Staples and Office Depot, which was then worth about $6.3 billion, would undermine the interests of corporate customers, limiting the choices in the office supply market.

CNN reported this morning that the $40-per-share offer price for Office Depot’s parent company, ODP Corp., is a roughly 60% premium over its average closing price for the last 90 trading days. The all-cash transaction, according to Staples, is a “compelling value proposition” and is a “superior to the intrinsic, standalone value” of Office Depot.

[broadstreet zone=”59948″]

Staples went private in 2017, selling itself to Sycamore Partner out of New York.

To avoid antitrust scrutiny, Staples is now proposing selling its IT management company CompuCom or its business-to-business unit.

The regulatory process could take about six months.