Finance & Capital Management

Hampstead, Md. – The board of directors of Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc. has officially rejected an unsolicited buyout offer from The Men’s Wearhouse. The offer, which expires March 28, 2014, is worth $57.50 per share, or about $1.6 billion.

Jos. A. Bank called the offer “inadequate and opportunistic” in announcing its rejection.

New York -- Mexico's Grupo Gigante expects to raise up to 4.954 billion pesos ($374.14 million) in its initial public offering of Office Depot de Mexico shares, Reuters reported.

The company plans to sell up to 291 million shares, local filings revealed.

The listing is provisionally set to price on Feb. 5, the report said.

In June, Grupo Gigante, acquired the 50% stake in the office supplies chain that it did not already own.
 

Warren, Mich. — Art Van Furniture has announced a seventh Chicagoland location in Downers Grove. For the new store, slated to open in January of 2015, the retailer plans to renovate a two story 106,000-sq.-ft. former Home Depot Expo Center on Butterfield Road off of Interstate 88.

Art Van Furniture will open its sixth Chicagoland location in Woodridge-Bolingbrook in April. Last year, the retailer rolled out five new stores in the region — in Logan Square, Bedford Park, Orland Park, Batavia and Merrillville.

Tucson, Ariz. — Lee & Associates Arizona has negotiated the $24.8 million sale of the River Center, a 117,563-sq.-ft. shopping center anchored by Whole Foods and Petco. Located on East River Road in the Catalina Foothills of northeastern Tucson, the center posted a cap rate of 5.5%.

Lee & Associates Arizona represented the buyer, Global Retail Investors LLC, a subsidiary of First Washington Realty of Bethesda, Md., and the seller, River Center Canada.

River Center was constructed in 1986 and remodeled in 1997 and 2013.

Former Ulta Beauty CEO Lyn Kirby is reportedly part of a group that acquired Beauty Brands, a cosmetics chain based in Kansas City, Mo.

According to a Crain’s Chicago Business article, Kirby, along with a leveraged buyout firm in California, snapped up the majority stake from advertising executive and entrepreneur Robert Bernstein.

Cincinnati – The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has granted early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (HSR) with respect to the pending merger transaction between The Kroger Co. and Harris-Teeter Supermarkets, Inc. The early termination of the HSR waiting period satisfies one of the conditions to the closing of the pending merger, which remains subject to other customary closing conditions.

Build-A-Bear Workshop has named Gina Collins as chief marketing officer and brand bear. Collins will lead the company’s marketing, public relations, entertainment and creative teams to drive sales growth and profitability.

She will also be responsible for branding, marketing, public relations, creative, licensing and corporate sales and will report to CEO Sharon John.

New York --- Brookshire Brothers, based in Lufkin, Texas, has entered into an agreement to David's Supermarkets, a 25-store chain based in North Central Texas. Terms were not disclosed.

"We feel like these family-owned stores align with our core value that we are a celebration of family and community," stated Jerry Johnson, president and CEO of Brookshire Brothers. 

Brookshire Brothers operates 123 outlets including grocery stores, convenience stores, free standing pharmacy, tobacco and petro locations.