Staples says U.S. regulators' complaint against merger is 'misguided'

By Diane Bartz
WASHINGTON, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Staples Inc SPLS.O accused
federal regulators of applying antitrust laws in a "misguided"
way to try to block its $6.3 billion merger with smaller office
supply retailer Office Depot Inc ODP.O .
The Federal Trade Commission used "selective documentation"
to show that the merger partners were the only companies
competing for large, national customers, Staples said in a court
filing late Tuesday.
The FTC argued in a Dec. 7 lawsuit that Staples, if it
bought Office Depot, would have 70 percent of the market for
office supplies purchased by large national customers. The
companies were much larger than No. 3 W.B. Mason, which is in 13
states, it added.
The trial is set for March. 21.
Staples said the FTC's complaint is a "fundamentally flawed
and misguided application of the antitrust laws," and cited
"fierce competition" from companies such as Amazon (O:AMZN) and Amazon
Business, as well as W.B. Mason. It denied that Office Depot was
its closest competitor.
Staples also cited a 2013 FTC document in which the agency
approved Office Depot's purchase of OfficeMax while pointing to
"a host" of "strong competitors" for multi-regional and national
customers."
Staples had initially offered to divest more than $500
million in commercial contracts in the deal announced in
February. It raised the total to as much as $1.25 billion to win
antitrust approval, but said the FTC rejected that as
inadequate.
The FTC stopped Staples' attempt in 1997 to merge with
Office Depot, arguing that the deal would lead to higher prices
for customers.
Canada's Competition Bureau has also said it would challenge
the proposed merger.
The case at the U.S. District Court for the District of
Columbia is Federal Trade Commission v Staples, Inc. It is No.
15-2115.