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Staples Again Proposes to Buy Office Depot

Staples is the parent company of Top 40 distributor Staples Promotional Products.

Third time’s the charm.

That’s what USR Parent, the parent company of Staples, is hoping after making another acquisition proposal to ODP Corporation, parent company of Office Depot. Staples Promotional Products (asi/120601), which is part of Staples, is the third-largest distributor in the North American promotional products industry.

Merger & acquisition word cloud

In a letter dated Friday, June 4, Staples offered $1 billion to acquire ODP Corporation’s consumer business, including the Office Depot and OfficeMax retail stores business, the company’s direct channel business (officedepot.com), and the Office Depot and OfficeMax intellectual property, including all brand names.

ODP has responded that its board of directors is carefully reviewing Staples’ proposal with the assistance of its financial and legal advisers to determine the course of action that’s in the best interest of the company and its shareholders, StreetInsider reported.

Last month, ODP announced a plan to separate into two independent, publicly traded companies: ODP, a leading provider of retail consumer and small-business products and services, and NewCo, a B2B solutions provider serving small, medium and enterprise-level companies.

In March, ODP rejected a previous offer from Staples, but did leave the door open to combining its retail and consumer-facing operations if the deal was right, including in the form of a joint venture or potential sale. ODP has said it wants to hang onto its B2B business.

Reuters reported that ODP’s business solutions unit sells office supply products, breakroom supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) to businesses in the United States and Canada. The unit accounted for about half of the company’s fiscal 2020 sales. Headquartered in Boca Raton, FL, ODP’s brands include OfficeMax, CompuCom, Grand & Toy and Office Depot.

In January, Staples proposed a more than $2 billion takeover offer that ODP declined. Staples previously tried to purchase Office Depot in 1996 and 2016, but governmental authorities blocked the deals over regulatory concerns.

With estimated 2019 North American promotional product revenue of $601.6 million, Staples Promotional Products ranked third on Counselor’s most recent list of the largest distributors in the industry. The new list comes out in July.

USR Parent is affiliated with Sycamore Partners, the private equity firm that bought Staples for $6.9 billion in 2017.