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For a year that wiped out some of the biggest names in retail, Staples' unsolicited $5.2 billion takeover of Netherlands-based Corporate Express merits that much more attention. The process was not always conciliatory, but three raised bids and four months later, Corporate Express agreed to Staples' through a cross border bear hug.
"It was a nice deal in a challenging environment. There was a clear strategic rationale for expanding their contract business globally. Plus, the buzz around a hostile cross-border always makes for interesting industry banter," says Ian Sugarman, a managing director in Morgan Stanley's investment banking division.
Informal discussions between Ronald Sargent, the chief executive of Staples, and Peter Ventress, Corporate Express' leader, began in 2007. At the time, Corporate Express was exploring strategic alternatives quietly, but talks proved unfruitful.
A frustrated Sargent tried again to initiate a constructive dialogue that would result in some form of a transaction, but to no avail.
"Staples was rebuffed. Corporate Express would not even sit down and have conversations with their management...