On June 28, 2017, Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) and Sycamore Partners, a leading private equity firm, announced that they have entered into a merger agreement in which investment funds managed by Sycamore Partners will acquire Staples in a transaction that values Staples at an equity value of approximately $6.9 billion. Under the terms of the merger agreement, all Staples' stockholders will receive $10.25 per share in cash for each share of common stock they own, which represents a premium of approximately 20 percent to the 10-day volume weighted average stock price for Staples shares for the period ended April 3, 2017, the last trading day prior to widespread media speculation about a potential transaction.
Mark Borden, Jay Bothwick and Andrew Bonnes led the WilmerHale team representing Staples in this transaction, which included Jeremy Delman, Jared Iverson, Todd Rosenthal, Kim Wethly, Ciara Baker, Scott Kilgore, John Sigel, Justin Ochs and Brett Bromann.