Amsterdam, 29 May 2008 – Corporate Express NV announces that an Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders (EGM) to request shareholders’ approval for its intended merger with Lyreco SAS will be held on Wednesday 18 June 2008. This merger will create the leading global B2B office products supplier.

In the same meeting, the unsolicited public offer of Staples, Inc to acquire Corporate Express will be discussed. As stated before, Corporate Express is of the opinion that Staples’ offer price of € 8 per ordinary share significantly undervalues the company and fails to reflect the company’s potential and prospects.

The official convocation for the meeting, together with the agenda and related documents, will be published no later than 3 June. These documents will include the shareholders’ circular with information about the merger with Lyreco.

The record date for the EGM is 29 May, 17:00 hrs, as published in today’s Official Price List.