Finance & Capital Management

Indianapolis -- Simon Property Group and Institutional Mall Investors (the co-investment venture owned by an affiliate of Miller Capital Advisory and The California Public Employees' Retirement System [CalPERS]), on Thursday announced that they have formed a joint venture to own and operate The Shops at Mission Viejo in the Los Angeles suburb of Mission Viejo, Calif., and Woodfield Mall in the Chicago suburb of Schaumburg, Ill.

New York -- Private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP and its partners are nearing an agreement to buy parts of Supervalu Inc., the Wall Street Journal reported.

Cerberus and its partners plan to buy some assets of the retail chain and take a stake in the remainder, which is expected to remain public, according to the report.

Reston, Va. -- A report released Friday by comScore showed that holiday online spending grew 14% year-over-year to $42.3 billion, as individual shopping days reached record spending levels.

Total results, however, fell slightly short of early-season predictions, as softer-than-expected buying occurred during the early to mid weeks of the period.

New York -- An apparel last-minute surge in holiday shopping helped many key retailers report better-than-expected sales in December. Twenty retailers reported sales in December rose an average of 4.5%, compared with the year-ago period, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers. Costco, Gap, Nordstrom and TJX Cos. were among the best performers.
 

New York -- The hunt is on for a new chief executive at Safeway following the resignation of longtime chairman and CEO Steve Burd.

Burd, 62, is scheduled to retire at the company’s annual stockholders meeting on May 14 and will aid in the search of his successor that is said to include internal and external candidates. Burd joined Safeway in October 1992 as president and was appointed CEO in May of the following year.

In what turned out to be one of the stranger holiday seasons in recent memory retailers fought through a range of unconventional headwinds to deliver an uneven performance.

Matthews, N.C. -- Family Dollar Stores Inc. reported Thursday a profit of $80.3 million for the quarter ended Nov. 24, compared with $80.4 million in the year-ago period.

The company said that higher sales on everyday items like cigarettes and soft drinks put pressure on margins.
    
Net sales increased 12.7% to $2.42 billion in the period, and same-store sales grew 6.6%.

Despite solid sales trends at Family Dollar during the company’s first quarter ended November 24, margins contracted and profits were less than expected.