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Office Depot said 99.5 percent of the votes cast were in favor
of the deal at a shareholder meeting on Friday.
The approval is yet another step in the creation of an office
supply megastore, in the face of increasing competition from
online rivals and big-box stores, that also sell core office
supplies, such as paper and ink toner, at cheaper prices.
Staples said it would buy Office Depot in February in a
cash-and-stock deal, following calls by activist investor
Starboard Value L.P. for a merger, saying a combined company
would lead to greater savings.
Under the deal, Office Depot shareholders will get $7.25 per
share in cash and 0.2188 of a share in Staples stock for each
Office Depot share held.
The merger is subject to antitrust regulatory approval from the
U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Regulators prevented
Staples' fist attempt to buy Office Depot in 1997.
The FTC, however, approved Office Depot's acquisition of
OfficeMax in 2013 without the need to close stores, citing
increased competition in the office supply industry.
China's Ministry of Commerce and The Commerce Commission of New
Zealand gave clearance to the proposed Staples-Office Depot
acquisition this month.
Office Depot's shares closed at $9.16 on Thursday, having risen
20.5 percent since news of the deal first emerged. Staples
shares, which had fallen 3.7 percent in the same period, closed
at $16.43 on Thursday.
(Reporting by Nayan Das and Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru)
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