Office Depot Open To Retail Business-only Acquisition By Staples, Is Selling CompuCom
Office Depot, in an open letter, says it acknowledges Staples’ primary interest in acquiring its retail and ecommerce business, and said that it has already initiated the process to sell its CompuCom business as part of a strategic review of the business. By Joseph F. Kovar January 19, 2021, 12:43 PM EST
Office Depot told Staples owner Sycamore Partners that it is open to explore the possibility of Staples acquiring Office Depot’s retail business, and that it is open to selling its non-retail business separately to make the proposed acquisition work.
Dive Brief:
Office Depot on Tuesday turned down Sycamore-owned Staples $2.1 billion acquisition offer from last week, but Office Depot Chair Joseph Vassalluzzo did outline ways the two might combine retail operations.
In a letter to private equity firm Sycamore Partners Managing Director Stefan Kaluzny, a member of the board at Staples parent company, Vassalluzzo said the Office Depot board had unanimously concluded that there is a more compelling path forward, including combining our retail and consumer-facing ecommerce operations with Staples under the right set of circumstances and on mutually acceptable terms.
Office Depot is moving ahead with a sale of CompuCom, after a strategic review of the IT services unit, which the retailer bought in 2017, Vassalluzzo also said.