ODP, the parent company of Office Depot, said Friday its board decided to delay splitting the company into two separate public companies after the company received an interest in its consumer business.

The move, which follows the New Year’s Eve announcement that ODP plans to sell its CompuCom systems integration business to a subsidiary of Variant Equity Advisors, is the latest in a long saga over the future of the company.

The sale of CompuCom and the decision to split the rest of ODP has been expected since Office Depot, a leading provider of business services, supplies and technology, unveiled an offer early last year. of its rival Staples.

[Related: 5 Things To Know About Staples’ Bid To Acquire Rival Office Depot]

USR Parent, the corporate name of Staples, offered in January to acquire Office Depot in a $2.1 billion deal. As part of the deal, Staples has offered the potential divestiture of Office Depot’s intercompany interests, including managed IT services provider CompuCom.

In November, USR Parent told ODP that its $1 billion non-binding cash offer to buy ODP’s consumer business, which includes its Office Depot and OfficeMax retail store businesses, the Company’s direct channel activity and the Office Depot and OfficeMax intellectual property, including any brand names, remains in play.

However, ODP said on Friday the company received a non-binding proposal from another third party in December to acquire its consumer business. The terms of this proposal have not been published. For this reason, ODP’s board decided to delay further work on separating the company to avoid potentially unnecessary costs, the company said.

Office Depot unveiled plans in May to separate into two independent public companies through a tax-free spin-off for ODP shareholders. The former includes his company’s home and small business services that are sold through e-commerce and about 1,100 Office Depot and OfficeMax outlets.

The second is based on Office Depot’s B2B business, which includes the ODP Business Solutions division, Canadian company Grand & Toy, and ODP’s regional office supplies distribution business, as well as the new technology business of ODP’s digital B2B platform, but does not include CompuCom.

Office Depot, also known by its symbol ODP, did not respond to CRN’s request for more information.

However, in a prepared statement, ODP CEO Gerry Smith said the company was considering which option offered its shareholders the best value.

“We look forward to further evaluating the potential sale of ODP’s consumer business to determine whether a sale may provide greater value to our shareholders than a public company separation,” Smith said. “If the consumer business is not sold, the ODP board will reassess whether and when to separate from the public company.”