Finance & Capital Management

Naperville, Ill. – OfficeMax shareholders will vote on a proposed merger with Office Depot on July 10, in a special meeting to be in Naperville, Ill. Shareholders of record as of May 28, 2013 are eligible to participate.

Shareholders will vote on a merger initially announced by OfficeMax and Office Depot on February 20, 2013. The merger process is ongoing and the transaction is expected to be completed by the end of this year subject to shareholder and regulatory approval.

Vancouver, British Columbia -- Lululemon Athletica Inc. on Monday said that its CEO, Christine Day, will step down when a successor is named. The announcement comes some three months after Lululemon, in an embarrassing and very costly snafu, had to pull 17% of its trademarked Luon pants from its store shelves after they were found to be too sheer.

INDIANAPOLIS — Kroger central division employees working at Kroger stores in the Indianapolis area have ratified a new four-year labor agreement with UFCW Local 700.

PARSIPPANY, N.J. — B&G Foods has acquired Robert’s American Gourmet Food, doing business as Pirate Brands — an all-natural snack foods category — from VMG Partners, Driven Capital Management, founder Robert Ehrlich and other entities and individuals.

B&G will pay approximately $195 million in cash.

Matthews, N.C. -- Family Dollar Stores names Brad Rogers as senior VP real estate. He replaces Keith Gehl, who retires from the company at the end of June.
   
Rogers joined Family Dollar in 1998 as a real estate manager with responsibility for new store development in North and South Carolina. Between 2006 and 2011, Rogers assumed greater roles with increased responsibilities, and in 2011, he was named VP real estate.

CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Dollar Tree has promoted Gary Philbin to president and COO. He has served as COO since 2007. Bob Sasser continues to lead the company as its CEO.

PITTSBURGH — Berkshire Hathaway and an investment fund affiliated with 3G Capital have completed their acquisition of H.J. Heinz Company. 

Heinz shareholders will receive $72.50 in cash for each share of common stock they owned as of the effective time of the merger, without interest and less any applicable withholding taxes. As a result of the completion of the merger, the common stock of Heinz will no longer be listed for trading on the New York Stock Exchange and Heinz expects no further trading after the close of business on June 7.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart’s board of directors has given the company the green light to repurchase $15 billion of its shares, effective June 6, the company announced at its annual shareholders meeting. 

This program replaces the previous $15 billion program announced on June 3, 2011. As of June 6, the company had approximately $712 million remaining on the 2011 Authorization. Under the share repurchase program, repurchased shares are constructively retired and returned to unissued status.