ACCO Brands and MWV Continue Plans to Merge

ACCO Brands Corporation announces that it has voluntarily withdrawn and will re-file the notification and report form filed under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended ("HSR Act") in connection with the proposed merger of MeadWestvaco Corporation's Consumer & Office Products business into ACCO Brands. ACCO Brands originally filed its required notification and report form under the HSR Act on December 16,2011, and plans to re-file this submission on January 19, 2012 in order to restart the initial waiting period under the HSR Act and to provide the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice ("DOJ") additional time to review the proposed transaction.
 

Upon re-filing of the HSR notification and report form, the DOJ will have an additional 30-day period in which to determine whether to close its investigation or issue a request for additional information and documentary material, commonly referred to as a "second request." ACCO Brands and MeadWestvaco have been working cooperatively with the DOJ as it conducts its review of the proposed transaction, and will continue to do so through the completion of that review.
 

As previously announced on November 17, 2011, ACCO Brands and MeadWestvaco signed a definitive agreement to merge MeadWestvaco's Consumer& Office Products business into ACCO Brands in a transaction which was valued at approximately $860 million at the time of the announcement. Upon completion of the transaction, MeadWestvaco shareholders will own 50.5 percent of the combined company. The proposed merger is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2012.