The commission seems to be giving some credence to the claimed benefits of the merger, while hedging its bets on the competition issue by shoring up Office Max and seeding healthy retail conflict in scores of communities.
The Office Max merger is necessary in order to avoid bankruptcy. 
mnli hypothesis: The Office Max merger is necessary in order to avoid bankruptcy.  premise: The commission seems to be giving some credence to the claimed benefits of the merger, while hedging its bets on the competition issue by shoring up Office Max and seeding healthy retail conflict in scores of communities.