Mergers & Acquisitions
June 10, 2011
Petco has purchased Complete Petmart, a 29-store chain based in Dayton, Ohio. Financial terms of the purchase weren't disclosed. San Diego-based Petco said all of Complete Petmart's 230 employees will remain with the company. Petco said it will be making changes to the former Complete Petmart store layouts over the next few weeks.
June 10, 2011
LIDS Sports Group announced the acquisition of the Buckeye Corner stores in the Columbus, Ohio area. The acquisition includes four Buckeye Corner store locations, along with its e-commerce website and catalog business. Terms of the acquisition weren't disclosed. A retailer specializing in the sale of officially licensed sports headwear, apparel, accessories and novelties since 1980, Buckeye Corner has been the official retail partner of The Ohio State University Alumni Association since 2004.
June 3, 2011
The Jones Group has acquired Kurt Geiger, Europe's largest luxury shoe retailer, from Graphite Capital, a leading U.K. midmarket private equity firm, for approximately $350 million in cash, inclusive of debt acquired.
June 2, 2011
Regulators in South Africa approved Wal-Mart's nearly $2.4 billion bid to buy a controlling share of Massmart Holdings Ltd. The Competition Tribunal of South Africa approved the deal on the condition that no job cuts take place for two years. It also requires the merged entity to give employment preference to 503 Massmart employees who lost their jobs.
June 2, 2011
West Marine will open the biggest store in the company's history, a 50,000-sq.-ft flagship in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Due to open by the end of the year, the store will be twice as big as the company's current largest location and will be focused on serving both local and seasonal boating customers.
June 1, 2011
With comp store sales down 8 percent for the first quarter of 2011, American Eagle Outfitters' CEO James O'Donnell revealed that the retailer will close up to 35 stores in 2011 and a large number of stores are being considered for potential closing within the next two years.
June 1, 2011
Debenhams and Sears are understood to be in early discussions about Debenhams opening concession or franchise areas in Sears outlets across the U.S. The U.K. department store retailer currently has around 60 franchised stores around the world and has a plan to increase this number to 100 as it looks to expand beyond its domestic market.
June 1, 2011
Investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. has entered into a definitive purchase agreement to acquire Academy Sports + Outdoors. The Gochman family will retain a minority ownership stake in the retailer.
June 1, 2011
Target is raising awareness for its new fresh food offerings by running mobile banner and audio ads across Pandora's platforms. Pandora offers popular mobile applications, with the audience skewing toward younger consumers. Target's mobile ad is targeting Pandora users who are not regular Target shoppers to try to encourage them to buy its new fresh food offerings.
May 24, 2011
By now most consumers are at least somewhat familiar with the e-reader, namely Amazon's Kindle and Barnes & Noble's NOOK, but there's another e-reader on the market and Borders is banking on the device to help boost its business. Borders announced that it has expanded its partnership with Kobo, the maker of an e-reader that at $129.99 is about $10 to $20 less than the Kindle and NOOK, respectively.
