Office Depot has rejected another acquisition attempt by rival office supplies supplier Staples, according to a letter sent Tuesday by a company executive.
However, the parent company of Office Depot, ODP, said it is open to a different type of deal, such as selling its retail and e-commerce businesses to Staples or agreeing on a joint venture, according to the report. .
In the letter, ODP President Joseph Vassalluzzo wrote that an agreement other than a complete dam “could be executed more efficiently and with much more security and less regulatory risk than your proposal”.
“It would also help maintain competitiveness against non-traditional retailers and optimize ongoing choices for consumers,” he wrote. He wrote the letter to Stefan Kaluzny, the managing director of Sycamore Partners and a board member of USR Parent, the subsidiary of Staples.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the rejected offer.
Shares of ODP fell nearly 2% in pre-market trading on Tuesday to $ 45.
Staples has tried to buy Office Depot’s parent company, ODP, twice more. Five years ago, antitrust officials blocked a merger between the two companies and sent shares of the two companies making tanks.
In the latest attempt, Staples proposed buying the company on Jan. 11 for more than $ 2 billion, or $ 40 per share, according to the newspaper.
Along with Office Depot, ODC also owns OfficeMax, another chain of office supply stores, and CompuCom, an information technology company.
Read the letter here.