Finance & Capital Management

Toronto -- Hudson’s Bay Co. (HBC) has appointed Marigay McKee, chief merchant of Harrods, as the future president of Saks Fifth Avenue. The appointment follows the news that Saks chairman and CEO Stephen Sadove and president and chief merchant Ronald Frasch will leave the company once it is acquired by Hudson's Bay.

Ottawa, Ontario -- The Canadian government is reportedly seeking to boost penalties for retailers caught using “zapper” software that can delete or modify transactional data in electronic POS systems to illegally hide sales.

Chicago -- SMS Assist announced the appointment of Michael L. McMath as VP of client services for the Chicago-based technology-driven facilities maintenance and management company.

McMath previously held senior positions at Wal-Mart Stores, Alcoa and Compass Group.
 

New York -- Private-equity firm Sycamore Partners disclosed through a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday that an affiliate, Hummingbird LLC, had taken an 8% stake in Aeropostale.

Sycamore through its Hummingbird LLC unit, bought about 6.3 million shares of Aeropostale, according to the filing. That would make it the retailer’s fourth-largest shareholder, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

New York -- Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th plans to open a new store in Aventura, Fla., on Sept. 20.

The store will be located in Town Center Aventura developed in partnership with Turnberry Media and will be the third Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th location in Miami. The 28,000-sq.-ft. layout includes an open floor plan, moveable fixtures and bright lighting.

Pleasanton, Calif. -- Safeway Inc. announced that it has adopted a one-year stockholder rights plan, or a “poison pill,” to discourage an unfriendly takeover.

The company adopted the plan after it became aware that unnamed investors had accumulated “a significant amount” of its stock. The investor turned out to be hedge fund company Jana Partners, which disclosed in a filing that it has accumulated a 6.2% stake in the supermarket retailer.

Seattle -- Nordstrom announced plans for two new Nordstrom Rack stores, one in Nevada, and the other in Massachusetts.

The retailer said it will open a 36,000-sq.-ft. Nordstrom Rack in fall 2014 at The Shops at Summerlin, a 1.6 million-sq.-ft. mixed-use center in the Las Vegas suburb of Summerlin.

Saratoga, Calif. — Fuddruckers is expanding its footprint in Southern California through a new franchise development partnership with Keilah LLC.

The partnership will open ten new Fuddruckers over the next several years. The first is slated to debut by early 2015.