Mergers & Acquisitions

London -- Grocery chain Fresh & Easy’s British parent Tesco confirmed Wednesday that it will abandon its U.S. business, selling off the 199-store chain and taking a $3.5 billion write-down.

Clarksburg, Md. -- Tanger Factory Outlet Centers and Peterson Cos. said Wednesday that the pair will develop an upscale outlet center in Clarksburg, Md.

The new outlet center, currently in the pre-development stage, will be branded as Tanger Outlets and located 27 miles northwest of Washington, D.C. and 36 miles west of Baltimore.

SymphonyIRI Group president and CEO Andrew Appel announced this week that the company will revert to its original name, Information Resources, or IRI, as part of a rebranding strategy.

“Our rebranding signifies our promise to continue providing ingenious solutions and capabilities for our clients to enable growth in a highly fragmented, competitive and complex market,” Appel said “We are well positioned to be the catalyst that enables CPG and retail companies to take advantage of new opportunities.”

New York -- Fairway Group Holdings Corp., operator of the Fairway Market grocery chain, said Wednesday that it raised $177.5 million in its initial public offering after pricing the shares above the marketed range.

Fairway sold 13.65 million shares for $13 each, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, after offering them for $10 to $12. At the offering price, the company has a market value of about $536 million.

The shares, which represent a 33% stake, will be listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol FWM.

New York -- Macy’s Inc. filed an appeal on Monday, challenging Manhattan state court judge Jeffrey Oing’s Friday ruling that J.C. Penney can sell unbranded Martha Stewart goods in its stores, at least temporarily.

Penney was celebrating the decision that would allow it to sell Martha Stewart items as long as they didn’t carry her name, especially since the products – valued by one analyst at $100 million -- were already manufactured and being stored in warehouses. 

San Francisco -- Dallas-based Cypress Equities said Monday that construction is about to begin on the site of what will become Market Street Place, a 250,000-sq.-ft. retail center scheduled to open in 2015 and co-developed by Cypress Equities and The Carlyle Group.

Market Street Place will be a six-level, urban retail redevelopment designed by Gensler’s San Francisco architectural team.

New York -- A Tuesday report by Bloomberg said that J.C. Penney has an additional plan to raise money; the retailer is said to be considering a spinoff of its real-estate holdings into a new unit that could issue debt.

Citing two unidentified sources, Bloomberg said Penney is also considering selling its real estate and then leasing it back as another avenue to free up money. And other assets, such as inventory, could be collateralized.

Chicago -- True Value Hardware said Tuesday that its president and CEO Lyle Heidemann will retire from the company after eight years at the helm, effective May 31.

The hardware cooperative has named John Hartmann to succeed Heidemann as president and CEO. Hartmann previously served as CEO of New Zealand hardware cooperative Mitre 10. He also spent nearly a decade at Home Depot and HD Supply in a variety of roles, finishing his tenure as CO of the electrical and plumbing/HVAC divisions.