The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has approved Staples Inc.’s acquisition of Essendant, a provider of workplace items that include traditional office products, cut sheet paper products, industrial supplies, janitorial/breakroom supplies and more. Framingham, MA-based Staples is the parent company of Top 40 distributor Staples Promotional Products (asi/120601).

On Monday, the FTC approved the $482.7 million deal with conditions. “Staples, which is owned by the private equity firm Sycamore Partners, will establish a firewall separating Staples’ business-to-business sales operations from Essendant’s wholesale business,” the regulator said in a statement. “This firewall will restrict Staples’ access to the commercially sensitive information of Essendant’s customers.”

The government shutdown had delayed the FTC’s approval process, according to Essendant CEO Ric Phillips in a letter to customers. The review was already complicated by criticisms from Essendant’s dealer and reseller clients that Staples, a long-time competitor, could obtain inside information on them and take sales away. The closure date had been extended twice.

In business nearly 100 years, Deerfield, Il-based Essendant was formerly known as United Stationers. The paper and office products supplier lost $267 million in 2017 as sales declined nearly 7.5% to just above $5 billion amid a changing marketplace disrupted by digitization and other factors.

As a result of the deal, Essendant will become a private company. Staples, which had been publicly listed, went private after being acquired by private equity firm Sycamore Partners in 2017.

With estimated 2017 North American promotional product revenue of $592.9 million, Staples Promotional Products ranked second on Counselor’s most recent list of the largest distributors in the industry.