Austrian to be interim CEO at Depot/Max
In the US, Office Depot Inc and OfficeMax Incorporated have announced the completion of their merger. The combined company will use the name Office Depot, Inc and will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ODP.
The new Office Depot Inc will have combined revenue for the 12 months ended September 28, 2013 of approximately $17 billion, now employs about 66,000 associates worldwide. The company serves consumers and businesses in 59 countries with more than 2,200 retail stores.
The uncertainty surrounding the timing and any potential conditions of the Federal Trade Commission approval are said to have made it challenging for the search for a CEO to be finalised in time to coincide with the closing of the merger. The CEO Selection Committee is hopeful of completing the process in the near future, now that unconditional FTC clearance has been obtained.
In the interim, as stated in the merger agreement, Neil Austrian, Chairman and CEO of Office Depot, and Ravi Saligram, President and CEO of OfficeMax, will serve together as co-CEOs, executing the integration plans they and their teams have built to combine the two businesses.
The combined company expects to incur a total of approximately $200 million in one-time operating costs in 2013 related to the merger and up to an additional $400 million in integration costs and approximately $200-$250 million in capital spending over the next three years in order to realize the estimated synergies.
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