AURELIUS Equity Opportunities : Further Consolidation and Digitalization of Office Depot Group

Further Consolidation and Digitalization of Office Depot Group

* Successful completion of the sale of Eastern European, Scandinavian and Spanish operations

* Sale of French operations by way of a Redressement Judiciare impending

* Integration of business areas DIRECT and CONTRACT on fully-digitalized platform Viking+

Grünwald/Munich, February 5, 2021 - OFFICE DEPOT Europe continues to focus on its core markets. Having successfully completed the sale of Eastern European and Scandinavian operations, the sale of the Spanish operations has now been completed successfully, too.

Local management filed for the commencement of court supervised restructuring proceedings (Redressement Judiciaire) for French stationary and key account business which had been severely affected by the lockdown warranted by the Covid-19 pandemic. During the proceedings, negotiations on a sale of the operations shall be conducted with various interested parties under the surveillance of a court appointed administrator. The 2020 turnover of OFFICE DEPOT France was at approx. 280m EUR, with an overall clearly negative business result. The Net Asset Value of OFFICE DEPOT group last published is not diminished thereby. During the last years, the French operations have been conducted independently of the rest of the group on a stand alone basis.

As part of OFFICE DEPOT Europe's newly implemented digitalization and marketplace strategy VIKING+, business areas Direct and Contract will be integrated. Customers ranging from B2C to B2B key accounts will henceforth be served by a joint organization and from a unified, fully-digital platform. Organizational, procedural and technological key requirements shall be fully implemented in this current year, thereby digitalizing and accelerating all business processes within OFFICE DEPOT Europe.