NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Feb. 19, 2013--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that published reports of a possible merger has no immediate impact on the 'B-' corporate credit rating and stable outlook on Office Depot Inc. and 'B-' corporate credit rating and stable outlook on OfficeMax Inc. However, if the two office supply retailers ultimately agreed to merge, we would likely focus our analysis on three main areas: Near-term cost savings; how any transaction positioned the combined entity to compete with larger competitors; and the ability and costs associated with reducing excess capacity. We believe the biggest short-term influence on profits and ratings would be potential cost savings at the combined entity. Both companies have substantial store bases,
