Staples Inc. and Office Depot Inc. said they have agreed to a Federal Trade Commission decision to extend its review of Staples' planned $6.3 billion deal to buy its office-supplies rival by nearly two months.

The Wall Street Journal last week reported that the FTC's timeline for deciding whether to allow the deal was likely to be delayed. The companies said in a news release Monday that a decision from the FTC now is expected by Dec. 8.

The companies and FTC antitrust enforcers had previously entered into a timing agreement that could have required the commission to make a decision by early this week. But the regulatory landscape changed when European antitrust officials announced Sept. 25 that they had opened their own investigation of the proposed deal.

The planned merger, unveiled in February, would take the U.S. down to one chain of office-supply superstores from three in just a couple of years. The FTC waved through Office Depot's acquisition of OfficeMax in 2013.

Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 12, 2015 09:55 ET (13:55 GMT)

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