Staples exploring options to acquire certain assets of Office Depot parent company

Staples is once again looking to acquire a rival.

The office supplies retailer said it is evaluating “all alternatives” to purchase certain assets of ODP Corp., whose brands include Office Depot, OfficeMax and CompuCom. The announcement comes after ODP, earlier this month, rejected a previous offer from Staples to acquire various assets, saying it lacked basic deal terms.

Staples, owned by Sycamore Partners, said on Wednesday that its options may include ODP’s retail and consumer-facing business, its operations in Canada and certain other assets.

Staples over the years has made several attempts to acquire Office Depot, but they failed due to regulatory concerns. In January, the company made an offer to buy ODP for $2.1 billion in cash. The offer was rejected, but ODP left the door open to a different deal.

In 2016, Staples and Office Depot called off their merger after a federal judge issued an injunction temporarily blocking the $6.3 billion deal over antitrust concerns.   

Staples previously tried to acquire Office Depot in 1996. But the deal was called off after regulators raised antitrust concerns.