On Thursday, new regulatory documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) confirmed that Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ:$SPLS) will be splitting into three independently-run businesses after private equity firm Sycamore Partners acquires it.
The August 10 SEC filing states the following: “At closing of the merger, Staples expects to separate its United States retail business [..] and its Canadian retail business, including the staples.ca business, […] into two separate Sycamore-affiliated entities. […] Each will be independently managed and capitalized following the closing of the merger […] and will be operating as independent businesses. The remaining business within Staples will consist solely of the NAD [North American Delivery] business.”
With the confirmation from the latest SEC filing, many now speculate that Office Depot (NASDAQ:$ODP) will acquire Staples’ 1,200 US retail stores after the Sycamore transaction is finalized. This, of course, is assuming that Staples’ shareholders give the seal of approval for this deal when they hold a special shareholding meeting on September 6.
In addition, the SEC filing shows that Staples has both equipment and property assets that are valued at roughly $1.65 billion. It is likely that this figure includes the company-owned headquarters in Framingham, Massachusetts. If the company were to split into three independently-run businesses, the Framingham head office will no longer be needed – or it will undergo a sale and leaseback transaction.
It is worth mentioning that Staples is forecast to report its full Q2 results in the next couple of weeks.
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