Office Depot Europe, a portfolio company of Aurelius Equity Opportunities has agreed to sell its Spanish direct business unit, which runs on the commercial brand Viking, to strategic buyer Bruneau Spain, a subsidiary of the French Bruneau Group. Bruneau is a leading mail order company for office supplies headquartered in Villebon sur Yvette, France. Office Depot Europe will hereby completely exit the Spanish market following the successful sale of its Spanish contract business unit on 23 July, 2020. Financial details have not been disclosed.
Bruneau will integrate the business into its existing platform and further develop it. The business has excellent sales capabilities and the buyer is ensuring continuity for its approximately 24.000 existing customers. Since Office Depot Spain was acquired in January 2017 commercial and technological ecommerce capabilities have been strategically developed as part of a digital transformation project.
The sale of the Spanish direct business unit is part of the ongoing transformation of Office Depot Europe. It will allow Office Depot Europe to focus on its core European markets and ecommerce-centric business. It is the fourth exit of an Office Depot business to complete in the past nine months. Office Depot Europe sold its Central Eastern European business in November 2019, its Nordic division in May 2020 and its Spanish contract business unit as of 23 July, 2020.