Office Depot To Sell European Business To Aurelius Group

(RTTNews) - Office Depot, Inc. (ODP) announced that it intends to sell its European business to The AURELIUS Group. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2016.

The company said that the transaction is structured as an equity sale, for nominal consideration, with the buyer acquiring the European business with its assets and liabilities. Annual revenue for the European business is approximately EUR 2 billion.

Office Depot had previously disclosed its intention to explore strategic alternatives regarding its European business, under a process that began earlier this year.

"The sale of our European business will allow us to streamline operations and focus our resources on markets that will provide the best opportunity to implement our recently announced three year strategic plan," said Roland Smith, chairman and chief executive officer for Office Depot.

Goldman, Sachs & Co. acted as Office Depot's exclusive financial advisor on the transaction.