Corporate Express NV, one of the world’s leading suppliers of office products, has noted the announcement by Staples, Inc. in which it announces that it has submitted to the Netherlands Authority Financial Markets (Stichting Autoriteit Financiele Markten) a request for approval for an offer memorandum, seeking to acquire Corporate Express for € 8.00 per ordinary share.
Today’s announcement follows an earlier unsolicited proposal at € 7.25 per ordinary share. Corporate Express carefully considered Staples’ first proposal and, having spoken with and listened to Staples management, it continued to believe that the offer price significantly undervalued the company and failed to reflect its prospects.
Corporate Express was notified by Staples of their impending press release and invited them for discussions which they declined. As soon as the formal bid document is made public by Staples, Corporate Express will again carefully consider Staples’ revised proposal. Corporate Express’ combined Boards will be available to engage in a dialogue with Staples and if appropriate will meet with Staples management to allow them to elaborate on the revised proposal.
Commenting Peter Ventress, CEO of Corporate Express said: “I am surprised by Staples' assertion that we have been unwilling to engage. We have spoken with and listened carefully on a number of occasions to what Staples has said before and have been consistent in our view that their initial proposal significantly undervalued the company and was not in the best interests of our shareholders and other stakeholders. We are willing to have discussions with Staples and clearly this still applies also on the basis of today’s announcement.”