(Reuters) - Office supplies retailer Staples Inc (O:SPLS) is willing to sell more assets to win antitrust approval for its $6.3 billion takeover of Office Depot Inc (O:ODP), Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing two people familiar with the matter.
Under the deal announced in February, Staples had offered to divest about half of Office Depot's assets with revenues of up to $1.25 billion. In talks with the FTC, the company has already offered to divest assets worth half that amount, one of the sources told Bloomberg.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that Staples was in talks with wholesaler Essendant Inc (O:ESND) to transfer about $600 million of corporate contracts to satisfy U.S antitrust concerns.
The company could offer to transfer more contracts to Essendant to satisfy antitrust concerns, Bloomberg said.
The FTC has been intensely scrutinizing the merger that will unite the two biggest office supply retailers in the United States. (http://bit.ly/1XqZF9E)
The FTC has set a deadline of Dec. 8 to decide on the deal.
Staples and Office Depot were not immediately available for comments.
(This version of the story corrects paragraph 3 to clarify that the Wall Street Journal reported that Staples was in talks with Essendant to transfer contracts. Staples has not made any announcement on the deal.)