Staples & Office Depot Issue Open Letter to Customers Regarding Canadian Competition Bureau’s Challenge of Grand & Toy Acqu...
December 08 2015 - 4:03PM
Business Wire
Staples, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPLS) and Office Depot, Inc. (Nasdaq:
ODP) have issued the following open letter to customers after the
Canadian Competition Bureau recently announced that it will seek to
block Staples’ acquisition of Grand & Toy:
This Smart News Release features multimedia.
View the full release here:
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151208006655/en/
To Our Valued Customers,
The Canadian Competition Bureau recently announced that it will
seek to block Staples’ acquisition of Grand & Toy. The
Competition Bureau’s challenge, if successful, will hurt customers
of both companies and jeopardize our ability to compete in a
rapidly evolving marketplace.
This merger creates an unparalleled opportunity to better serve
customers of Staples and Grand & Toy. The combined company
would generate significant savings, and we’re committed to
investing savings in lower prices for all customers. We will also
use the savings to continue to invest in our people, technology and
customer service.
We strongly believe in a robust and competitive marketplace.
Unfortunately, the Competition Bureau’s challenge is based on a
flawed analysis and misunderstanding of the intense competitive
landscape in which Staples and Grand & Toy compete. The Bureau
underestimates the disruptive effect of new competitors in the
digital economy. It also ignores the vigorous existing and
expanding competition the parties face from numerous strong
competitors, including office products dealers, manufacturers
selling office supplies direct to business customers, dealers in
adjacent categories, cooperatives of regional players, and Internet
resellers.
We believe that the Competition Bureau is acting against the
best interests of the thousands of business customers served by
Staples, Grand & Toy and our competitors. Instead, the Bureau
is focused on the prices that the largest, most powerful companies
in Canada pay for paperclips and rubber bands.
The Competition Bureau’s decision is especially disappointing
for two reasons: First, two other nations with very similar markets
for office products, Australia and New Zealand, have analyzed the
very same issues and already cleared this transaction several
months ago.
Second, this litigation is unnecessary and will waste the
resources of the Canadian government and both companies. Staples
has offered to not take any action to close the transaction pending
the determination of similar litigation in the United States. At
that point the Competition Bureau would have an opportunity to
reconsider its decision with the benefit of additional information.
Despite this offer, the Competition Bureau is planning to litigate
in Canada even though litigation is already ongoing in the United
States. This decision may be welcomed by the U.S. government, but
litigation in Canada is unnecessary.
This combination is good for customers. It’s good for
shareholders, and it’s good for both companies. We will continue to
fight to complete this transaction and to provide our customers
with the lower prices and better service that they deserve.
Thank you for your continued support.
Ron Sargent Roland Smith
Chairman and CEO Chairman and CEO Staples, Inc. Office Depot, Inc.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151208006655/en/
Media Contacts:Staples:Kirk Saville, 508-253-8530orOffice
Depot:Karen Denning, 630-438-7445orInvestor
Contacts:Staples:Chris Powers, 508-253-4632orOffice Depot:Mike
Steele, 561-438-3657
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