Finance & Capital Management

Fremont, Calif. -- The Men's Wearhouse has completed its acquisition of one-time-rival Jos. A. Bank Clothiers. The combined company has more than 1,700 stores, approximately 26,000 employees and sales of $3.5 billion on a pro forma basis.

The final price tag to combine the two retailers was $1.8 billion, or $65 per share.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) and the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) have asked an appeals court to overturn a federal judge’s approval of a lawsuit settlement regarding Visa and MasterCard’s credit card swipe fees, saying it was negotiated by only a handful of merchants and would do nothing to bring the fees under control.

San Jose – PayPal is reportedly expanding the customer service center located in its European headquarters based in Dundalk, Ireland. According to the Irish Independent, PayPal will make a “massive investment” in the center in the next four years that will add 400 workers.

The expansion will bring the combined PayPal-EBay workforce in Dundalk to 1,850. New jobs will include customer solutions, risk operations and telesales positions.

Cincinnati -- Kroger Co. on Wednesday said it plans to withdraw from two multi-employer pension funds and will incur a charge of $56 million in the first quarter as it contributes that amount to restructure its pension obligations. The move is in line with the retailer’s desire to exert more control over employee-retirement programs.

Specialty retailer Batteries Plus Bulbs is doubling down on its existing device repair business with plans to have the service in more than 650 stores by yearend.

Since August of last year, device repair was being tested in 40 markets nationwide and had grown to 275 stores, however the popularity of the service among consumers combined with the surging popularity of smartphones, iPods, tablets and other devices prompted the decision to expand the service to all stores, according to the company.

Matthews, N.C. -- Family Dollar Stores, announced that it has named Jeffrey Thomas senior VP-merchandise operations. He replaces Scott Zucker, who left the company at the end of May.

Thomas joined Family Dollar in 2003 as a director of vendor performance. He went on to assume roles with increasing responsibilities, and in 2013, was named VP-merchant services.

New York -- Michaels Cos. seeking as much as $528 million in its U.S. initial public offering, Bloomberg reported. The arts and crafts retailer is offering 27.8 million shares at $17 to $19 each, according to a regulatory filing Tuesday.
 
The IPO is being managed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Michaels was taken private in 2006 by Bain Capital and Blackstone Group in a $6 billion leveraged buyout. Each firm will own 40% of the company after the offering, the report said.

Who doesn’t have a website these days? Plenty of small business, according to Go Daddy, the domain name registrar looking to convince investors of its untapped growth potential ahead of a public stock offering.

Even though Go Daddy already has 57 million domain names under management and 12 million customers, the company contends only about half of the nation’s 28 million small businesses have a Web site. In addition, Go Daddy’s 57 million domain’s represent about 21% of the 270 million domain names registered world wide.