Finance & Capital Management

New York City -- On the heels of earlier reports that Macy’s and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia were able to reach a settlement in their ongoing legal dispute over Martha Stewart sales at J.C. Penney, reports surfaced on Friday that Macy’s and Penney were unable to find their own agreement.

According to multiple sources, talks between Macy’s and Penney fizzled, making it likely that a judge will have to decide the dispute over home goods designed by Martha Stewart.

Hampstead, Md. -- Preparing for a potential fight against Men’s Wearhouse’s unsolicited acquisition bid, Jos. A. Bank Clothiers is ramping up its "poison pill" defense.  

Jos. A. Bank said Friday that it is lowering its ownership threshold to 10% from 20%, which is the same ownership threshold as Men's Wearhouse's shareholder rights plan.

Such a plan typically allows existing shareholders to acquire more stock at a discounted rate to ward off the investor collecting a big stake.

A new form of digital currency will reportedly soon be competing with Bitcoin. According to multiple media reports, the currency, known as “Coinye West,” will launch at 11 p.m. ET on Saturday, Jan. 11.

According to the Coinye West website, the currency will use a Scrypt algorithm and have a maximum number of 1,333,333,333. The site also promises that password-protected, encrypted archives containing the binaries and source for the wallet and daemon will be released before launch and that Coinye West is digital currency “for the masses.”

Oak Brook, Ill. — Inland Real Estate Income Trust has acquired the 159,258-sq.-ft. Wedgewood Commons Shopping Center in Olive Branch, Miss., a southeastern suburb of Memphis, Tenn. The purchase price was $33.9 million.

The property consists of four buildings and an existing structure suitable for the development of an additional 10,838 sq. ft. of leasable space, which would increase the center’s retail space to just over 170,000 sq. ft.

Wilmington, Del. — Law firm Rigrodsky & Long, P.A is investigating potential legal claims against the board of directors of Arden Group, Inc. regarding possible breaches of fiduciary duties and other violations of law related to the company’s entry into an agreement to be acquired by global private investment firm TPG, in a transaction valued at approximately $394 million.

City of Commerce, Calif. — 99 Cents Only Stores opens its first store in Waco, Texas on Thursday, Jan. 9. The new store is approximately 13,000 square feet and will feature a perishable food department, including produce, dairy and frozen foods.

99 Cents Only Stores currently operates 339 extreme value retail stores consisting of 244 stores in California, 45 in Texas, 33 in Arizona, and 17 in Nevada.

Fewer sales of flu shots and prescription drugs at Rite Aid led to same-store script count decreases. However, the company reported increases in net and same-store sales for December.

Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) has appointed Ben Bard as VP and global chief compliance officer, effective Jan. 20.

Bard will be responsible for ADM’s Office of Compliance and will oversee the company’s compliance policies and programs, including the code of conduct, ethics helpline, global anti-corruption program, trade compliance, antitrust and competition law, data protection, privacy and conflict of interest policies.

Raj Jain, the former head of a joint venture between Walmart and Bharti Enterprises, has joined Bharti Retail as CEO.

Jain spent six years with the joint venture, Bharti Walmart, most recently serving as president of Walmart India. He left the joint venture in June 2013, four months before Walmart and Bharti announced they would independently pursue retail opportunities in India.

Joining Jain at Bharti Retail is his former joint venture colleague Panka Madan who will serve as CFO. Madan also served as CFO of Bharti Walmart but left the joint venture in 2012.

Washington -- The National Retail Federation Thursday formally filed an appeal of a controversial antitrust lawsuit settlement covering credit card swipe fees, asking the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a lower court’s ruling.