NEW YORK (AP) – Staples has received European approval for its buyout of Office Depot and in exchange, said Wednesday that it would split off some of its businesses in Europe to allay monopoly fears.
The European Union gave its support to the deal on the condition that Staples Inc. divest Office Depot’s European contract business and all of its operations in Sweden. Staples said that it will also divest Office Depot’s retail, online and catalog operations in Europe.
“This is a significant step,” Staples Chairman and CEO Ron Sargent said in a written statement Wednesday.
But the $6.3 billion still needs approval at home in the U.S., which is far from assured.
Federal regulators in December rejected Staples’ offer to sell $1.25 billion in contracts to work around anti-trust issues. The Federal Trade Commission believes that the combination of the last two major office supply retailers would throttle competition and allow the new company to dictate the price of supplies.