Hamashbir sells Office Depot Israel for NIS 1

The investors will immediately invest NIS 30 million in the local franchise of Office Depot Inc.

18 November 12 12:56, Globes' correspondent

Department store chain Hamashbir 365 Holdings Ltd. (TASE:MSAH) has sold Office Depot Israel Ltd. for NIS 1 to a group of investors, represented by Adv. Oded Steiff. The investors will immediately invest NIS 30 million in the local franchise of Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP), and have promised to invest up to an additional NIS 10 million if necessary.

Hamashbir CEO Rami Shavit said, "Following the recovery and streamlining plan, which encompassed Office Depot Israel, and included layoffs and the closing of stores, the appointment of a new CEO and a NIS 30 million capital injection, and paralleling Hamashbir's legal proceedings against Office Depot Inc., we have finally signed an agreement to sell Office Depot Israel. From our perspective, the decision to sell it was necessary out of our responsibility to our other operations. We could not allow Office Depot Israel's financial difficulties to harm the parent company's financial soundness."

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 18, 2012

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012