Staples, Corporate Express Reach $4.8B Deal
Staples Inc. reached an agreement to buy Corporate Express for about $2.65 billion, the Framingham-based office supply chain announced this morning.
The company is paying 9.25 Euros per share under the all-cash offer. Staples said the total "enterprise value" of Corporate Express is about $4.8 billion, including some debt that it will assume. The deal comes after Staples spent several months haggling with the Dutch company.
Peter Ventress, CEO of Corporate Express, will become president of Staples International, a new position the company created to oversee the company's business outside the U.S. and Canada.
Corporate Express, a supplier of office products, operates in 21 countries in North America, Europe and Australia and has about 18,000 employees at 350 locations. Staples operates more than 2,000 stores in North and South America, Europe and Asia and has about 76,000 employees. Together, the companies' revenues in 2007 were $27 billion, Staples said.
With the new deal, Corporate Express terminated its merger agreement with Lyreco of France.
The companies said they expect to finalize the deal in July.
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