Good news for the hundreds of Office Depot Israel employees: Retail Group 3000 Ltd., owned by Ronen Levy, has reached an agreement with Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP) to acquire the Israeli franchise in full - including its name and assets.
The agreement was signed on November 23. Levy will reportedly hire 600 of the 800 Office Depot Israel employees for at least one year, and he intends to open additional branches around the country, where the new employees will work.
On November 18, Central District Court Judge Irit Weinberg-Nutovitz ordered Office Depot Israel to be liquidated and its employees fired. “After extensive deliberations, and with a heavy heart, it seems that Office Depot has reached the end of its road, and we can say that there is no debate about this,” she said Judge Irit Weinberg-Nutovitz. "I have appointed Advs. Israel Bechar and David Fohrer as temporary liquidators. The commitment they deposited as part of the stay of proceedings will remain in force."
Office Depot Israel owes suppliers NIS 9.5 million. Its current owner, Avi Malka paid NIS 22 million to acquire the chain and deposited a NIS 10 million bank guarantee. In late October, the company was taken over by trustees, when Malka said that he had no intention of assuming the chain's recovery or management.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 24, 2013
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