Staples offers to buy Office Depot owner’s consumer business for $1 billion
5:05 pm Friday, June 04th, 2021
(Reuters) -Staples said on Friday it had offered to buy Office Depot owner ODP Corp’s consumer business for $1 billion, the latest effort by the office supplies retailer to acquire its rival’s assets.
Staples offered about $18.27 per share for the business, which it said represents a premium of about 43% to the 30-day average closing price of ODP’s stock as of June 2.
ODP said it is reviewing Staples’ proposal with the assistance of its financial and legal advisors.
Shares in ODP closed up 11.2% at $49.56 on Friday, after hitting a near four-year high of $50.14 during the session.
Last month, ODP said it would spin off its distribution platform, which schools, offices and other businesses use to buy supplies, into a separate company.
Staples is now proposing to buy ODP’s unit that includes the Office Depot and OfficeMax retail store businesses.
(Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal and Mehr Bedi in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Praveen Paramasivam; Editing by Aditya Soni and Amy Caren Daniel)
