Consumer Affairs & Relations

Coach has appointed David Denton, EVP and CFO of CVS, to its board.

The company also appointed William Nuti, who was named chairman, CEO and president of NCR Corp., to the board. The appointments of Nuti and Denton brings to 11 the number of board members.

The Hillshire Brands Company is about to expand its already robust portfolio of brands — which includes Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, Birds Eye, Ball Park, Duncan Hines, Vlasic, Wish-Bone, State Fair, Sara Lee frozen bakery, Mrs. Butterworth's and Log Cabin — with the acquisition of Pinnacle Foods in a cash and stock transaction for approximately $6.6 billion.

DSW has closed on its acquisition of Town Shoes Limited, the largest footwear and accessories retailer in Canada, for $68.7 million (USD) in cash. DSW acquired a 49.2% interest in Town Shoes from certain clients of Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) and other minority shareholders.

DSW's initial stake provides 50% voting control and board representation equal to the primary remaining shareholder, Callisto Capital. Peter J. Solomon Company served as financial advisor to DSW Inc.

Bentonville, Ark. – U.S. Magistrate Judge Erin Setser has recommended that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and former Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke face a shareholder lawsuit alleging they concealed corrupt activities at Wal-Mart’s Mexican operation.

The suit, filed by a Michigan pension fund, claims Wal-Mart knew of bribery allegations involving its Wal-Mart de Mexico business in 2005 and conducted an internal investigation in 2005 and 2006, but never notified shareholders.

Freeport, Maine – L.L.Bean Inc. has appointed two new independent directors to its corporate board. The new board members are Matthew Moellering, executive VP and CEO of Express Inc., and Hugh Farrington, former president and CEO of Hannaford Brothers Company.

Ralph Lauren’s executive vice chairman Roger Farah plans to leave the company at the end of the month. Farah will remain on the board of directors until the expiration of his term on the date of the company’s 2014 annual meeting of stockholders in August.

McCormick & Company has named Brendan Foley as president of U.S. consumer effective June 2. Foley will lead the largest business unit for McCormick and will report directly to president of global consumer and CAO Lawrence Kurzius.

At an event with President Barack Obama, Walmart said that it will double the number of on-site solar energy projects at its U.S. stores, Sam’s Clubs and distribution centers by 2020. The commitment is part of Walmart’s global initiative to drive the production or procurement of 7 billion kWh of renewable energy by the end of 2020.

Boise, Idaho - Associated Grocers of Florida is adopting recall process management technology from Recall InfoLink. Recall InfoLink offers a Web-based product recall management platform that protects brand image and reduces liability for businesses involved in processing recalls.

It improves efficiency by providing standardized messages, automated communications, inventory tracking and reports for compliance efforts.

Cupertino, Calif. -- Voltage Security announced a new product integration with device manufacturer Uniform Industrial Corp. (UIC) that provides end-to-end data encryption for the retail payments industry, a key technology in light of the recent data breaches. (Chain Store Age will host a Webinar on data security sponsored by Voltage Security, “Lessons Learned: What to Do NOW to Protect Stores Against Data Breaches,” on May 13. Register here.)