Business & Tech

Office Depot to Buy Naperville-Based OfficeMax in $1.2 Billion Deal

Naperville-based office supply company to be bought by rival Office Depot.

Naperville-based office supply company OfficeMax Inc. is being bought by its larger rival Office Depot in a $1.2 billion all-stock deal, Reuters reports.

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A draft of the deal was accidentally posted on Office Depot's website Wednesday morning, which calls for the exchange of 2.69 Office Depot common shares for each OfficeMax share.

"The transaction, which was unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of both companies, will create a stronger, more efficient global provider better able to compete in the rapidly changing office solutions industry," according to a joint press release. 

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Other details of the merger such as the fate of OfficeMax's Naperville headquarters, 263 Shuman Blvd., the entity's name and CEO are expected to be announced after a new CEO is hired. 

Both incumbent CEOs, as well as outside candidates, will be considered in the search process, according to the release.  

"Neil Austrian, the Chairman and CEO of Office Depot, and Ravi Saligram, the President and CEO of OfficeMax will remain in their current positions through the completion of the search process," the release said.

The merger would give both companies the option to cut costs in terms of the number of store locations and employees, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Along with its headquarters in Naperville, OfficeMax has one store location in the city at 790 Royal St. George Dr. Office Depot has two locations in Naperville, 1363 Ridgeland Ave. and 740 Route 59.

OfficeMax, based in Naperville, has roughly $7 billion in annual sales, 29,000 employees and about 900 stores in the US and Mexico. Office Depot, based in Boca Raton, Florida, has 1,675 stores world-wide, annual sales of some $11.5 billion and about 39,000 employees, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The merger is expected to be completed by the end of 2013.


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