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Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Staples agrees to purchase Office Depot for $6.3 bln, (NASDAQ: ODP), (NASDAQ: SPLS)

Staples Inc, the No. 1 U.S. office supplier, agreed to purchase nearest rival Office Depot Inc in a $6.3 billion cash-and-stock deal to better compete against online and big-box retailers.Staples said it would pay $7.25 per share in cash and 0.2188 of its shares for each Office Depot share.The offer, which is likely to face close antitrust scrutiny, values Office Depot at $11.00 per share, based on Staples closing price on Feb. 2, the last trading day prior to media speculation that a deal was near.The offer price is a premium of 44 percent to Office Depot's Monday's close.

Office Depot, Inc. (Office Depot) is a global supplier of office products and services. Shares of ODP traded higher by 21.63% or $1.65/share to $9.28. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $3.84 and as high as $9.32. On average, 10959500 shares of ODP exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 56511960.

Staples, Inc. is an office products company. The Company operates in three business segments: North American Stores & Online, North American Commercial and International Operations. Shares of SPLS traded higher by 10.91% or $1.87/share to $19.01. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $10.70 and as high as $19.40. On average, 13513500 shares of SPLS exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 39945812.



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