Aurelius sells Office Depot's Spanish business to trade

Alessia Argentieri
24 July 2020

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Aurelius Equity Opportunities has sold the Spanish contract business of its portfolio company Office Depot Europe to French provider of office supplies Lyreco.

This deal is part of the ongoing restructuring of the business started under Aurelius's ownership.

The GP sold the company's central and eastern European operations to Austria-based PBS in November 2019. Subsequently, it sold Office Depot's Nordic division to the company's CEO, Klaus Egholm, in a management buyout backed by a family office in May 2020.

Following these three divestments, the business plans to focus on its core European e-commerce activities.

Aurelius bought Netherlands-based Office Depot Europe from its US-based parent company in September 2016. At the time, the company had 6,500 employees and reported EBITDA of approximately €45m, from revenues of €2bn.

Aurelius is a pan-European investment firm with offices in Munich, London, Stockholm, Madrid and Amsterdam, specialising in turnaround investments, as well as equity and growth capital transactions.

Aurelius Equity Opportunities is a listed entity that focuses on investing in mid-market corporate carve-outs and platform build-ups in a broad range of industries. It currently has 22 portfolio companies based across Europe, employing around 15,000 people and generating combined annual revenues of approximately €3.4bn.

Company
Office Depot provides companies with office supplies, furniture and stationery. The business is headquartered in Venlo and markets its products under two main brands: Office Depot and Viking. It has retail outlets in France and Sweden, and operates in 30 European countries, employing 6,000 staff.

The Spanish contract business of Office Depot provides office supplies to international and Spanish companies operating across various industries.

People
Aurelius – Florian Muth (managing director mid-market Europe).