The two companies have offered to transfer $600 million (€558 million) in corporate contracts to US office supplies wholesaler Essendant, in efforts to appease antitrust regulators examining their merger.
Retail analyst David Marcotte said that such a deal may be a step forward, if it called for the two companies to divest only a portion of their combined corporate contracts to the Illinois-based Essendant, Sun Sentinel reported.
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is examining Staples’ $6.3 billion (€5.9 billion) bid to buy out its competitor, and is set to make a decision by 8 December, while the European Commission is also investigating the deal. It has already been approved in Australia, New Zealand and China.