Finance & Capital Management

NEW YORK — Harwood Feffer LLP, a law firm that represents investors and investment groups, announced that it is investigating potential claims against the board of directors of Best Buy, concerning whether the board is fulfilling its fiduciary duties to shareholders in connection with an offer from the company's founder and former CEO, Richard Schulze, to take the company private.

New York -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will adjust its future financial reports to add more detail on legal proceedings and cyber security after U.S. regulators asked the retailer to better explain certain matters in its latest quarterly and annual filings, Reuters reported.
   
Wal-Mart's correspondence with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission took place in June and July and was made public on Monday.

New York -- Walgreens has agreed to create 500 jobs in Illinois over three years and invest $75 million to expand and renovate more than two dozen of its corporate offices, according to the Chicago Tribune.

New York -- Total operating income of all shopping centers on a square-foot basis in the second quarter of 2012 rose 4.9% from the same quarter last year, while operating expenses rose by a larger 5.8%, according to a new quarterly shopping-center benchmarking report from The National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF) and the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).

London -- New shopping center development in Europe is expected to increase by a quarter in 2012 to meet retailer demand for modern, high quality retail space, according to the latest research by global property adviser CBRE.

Turkey is the most active market, accounting for one-third of new space delivered in the first half of the year. This is some way ahead of Germany, with Italy and Poland just behind.

Asheville, N.C. -- Ingles Markets’ new store in Mills River, N.C., has received an Energy Star certification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that recognizes the energy efficiency of the store’s design. The store was awarded the certification after meeting strict EPA guidelines for the estimated energy use of the building.

New York -- Damco announced it has been named a 2012 Partner in Transformation for Sears Holdings Corp. in recognition of its innovative contributions to Sears. Damco is a leading third-party logistics provider specializing in customised freight forwarding and supply chain solutions.

Sears grants the Partners in Transformation award to a select group of supplier companies who have been helping support the transformation of the company through innovation around customers, core retail excellence and financial and operational discipline.

Best Buy founder and former chairman Richard Schulze on Monday offered to buy the struggling retailer and take it private for as much as $8.8 billion. Schulze said he would offer Best Buy shareholders between $24 and $26 for each of their shares in the chain, according to a letter sent to the board that he made public.

In addition to a John Fleming sighting in Minneapolis, Walmart alums John Menzer and Craig Herkert made news of their own this week.

Menzer resigned as CEO of Michaels following a stroke he suffered back in April, while Herkert was let go from his CEO role at Supervalu following a string of poor results.

DALLAS — A lawyer representing former Tuesday Morning CEO Kathleen Mason asserts the closeout retailer fire her upon learning she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Kathleen Mason, the former President and CEO of the Dallas-based, closeout retailer, has filed charges of disability discrimination against her former employer with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).