Using the same SKU as another branded item?

We have a couple of brands. We plan to dissolve one and become another. We want to use the same sku’s for the same products. We were told we could delete the products for 24 hours and then when we went to list the products under a new brand it would allow us to use the same sku. This has not been the case in practice. Amazon tells us an existing ASIN has that same sku and we can’t use it. Is there a way around this? We tried both seller central listing and using a feed/csv.