In a joint statement on Friday, office supply retailers Office Depot Inc and OfficeMax Inc said it had secured an approval from the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for its planned merger.

Office Depot in February had offered a USD976 million all-stock buyout deal to OfficeMax. The offer intended to cut company costs, increase its clout with suppliers, and create a bigger company that could rival online discount stores and Staples Inc.

Office Depot's offer rose antitrust concerns as the retailer was involved in an old but famous antitrust case. FTC challenged the proposed consolidation of Office Depot and Staples in 1997 in court. A judge decreed that the consolidation would result to a spike in retail prices for customers. The deal was scrapped after the verdict.

Some antitrust had said that the case of the Office Depot-OfficeMax consolidation was different, as circumstances leading to the 1997 antitrust case against Office Depot was no longer applicable to the latter's new merger proposal.