Office Depot Holder Starboard Urges Unit Sale to Gigante
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Starboard Value LP, the activist investor that has pressured Office Depot Inc. to improve operations, urged the second-largest office-supply chain to sell its Mexico unit to Grupo Gigante SAB.
Gigante, the Mexico City-based retailer that owns the other 50 percent of Office Depot de Mexico, offered to pay 8.78 billion pesos ($683 million) for the rest of the company, according to a Feb. 21 filing. Office Depot agreed to buy OfficeMax Inc. for $1.17 billion the day before Gigante’s offer was made public. As part of the merger agreement, OfficeMax has to approve the sale of the Mexican unit.