The offer price of $ 40 per share for Office Depot’s parent company, ODP Corp., is a premium of about 60% above the average closing price for the past 90 trading days. According to Staples, the cash transaction is a “compelling value proposition” and is a “better than the intrinsic, stand-alone value” of Office Depot.
Staples said it was “willing to take all necessary measures” to get the merger approved by the Federal Trade Commission, which said in 2015 that the combination would give the joint ventures too much of an office supply retail market and will violate antitrust law.
To investigate antitrust, Staples suggested selling its IT management company CompuCom or its business-to-business unit. By doing so, Staples could increase its proposed price, he said. According to the company, the regulatory process could take about six months, and Staples is urging the board of ODP to “instruct management to cooperate with the regulatory authorities as soon as possible.”