Mergers & Acquisitions

NEW YORK — Best Buy’s chief marketing officer, Barry Judge, has resigned. His resignation follows the departure last month of chief executive Brian Dunn.

Judge is “leaving the company to explore the next chapter in his career,” Greg Hitt, a spokesman for Best Buy, said by e-mail, in a Bloomberg report.

MINNEAPOLIS — Pete Van Helden, EVP retail operations for Supervalu, will be leaving the company this spring. Taking his place will be Kevin Holt.

"This was a mutually beneficial decision that comes at the right time for both Supervalu and Van Helden, as the company continues to implement its business transformation strategy and as Van Helden moves on to opportunities that will better utilize his strengths," the company stated in a release.

Woonsocket, R.I. -- CVS Caremark reported Wednesday that profit for the quarter ended March 31 rose 9% to $776 million, compared with $713 million in the year-ago period.

Revenues surged 20% to a record $30.8 billion boosted by rival Walgreen’s termination of its Express Scripts program, which moved Walgreen customers over to CVS. The results beat Wall Street’s expected $30.3 billion in revenue for the quarter.

Same-store sales climbed more than 8%.

Armonk, N.Y. -- IBM  announced a definitive agreement to acquire Tealeaf Technology, San Francisco, a provider of customer experience analytics software that helps organizations to gain intelligence and react more swiftly to consumer trends in today's digitally transformed marketplace. Financial details were not disclosed.

The acquisition is expected to close in second quarter 2012.

SUFFERN, N.Y. — The Ascena Retail Group will acquire Charming Shoppes Inc., parent company of Lane Bryant, for about $890 million.

The move gives Ascena -- which owns the Dressbarn, Maurices and Justice chains -- entry to the steadily-growing large-size women's clothing market. In addition to Lane Bryant, Charming Shoppes also owns the Fashion Bug and Catherines Plus Sizes banners. It operates more than 1,800 stores nationwide. In 2011, nearly 85% of Charming Shoppes’ sales involved plus-sized apparel.

Suffern, N.Y. -- The Ascena Retail Group said Wednesday it will acquire Lane Bryant parent Charming Shoppes Inc. for about $890 million.

The move gives Ascena -- which owns Dressbarn, Maurices and Justice -- entry to the large-size women's clothing market.

New York -- The retail industry is still assessing the impact of two major deals that occurred within 24 hours of each other. On Tuesday, May, 1, shoe manufacturer Wolverine Worldwide Inc. and equity firms Blum Capital Partners and Golden Gate Capital agreed to acquire footwear giant Collective Brands Inc., operator of Payless Shoe Source, in a deal valued at $2 billion, including assumption of debt. And on Wednesday, May 2, Ascena Retail Group said it will acquire Charming Shoppes Inc., parent company of Lane Bryant, for about $890 million.

Griffin, Ga. -- The Kroger Co. and Collins & Arnold said they have broken ground on Phase II of Griffin Pavilion, a retail development located in Griffin, Ga., and developed by The Sofran Group.

The final phase of the project will consist of a 94,000-sq.-ft. Kroger with an 18- pump Fuel Center.  The grocery store site will include 20,000 sq. ft. for future expansion.

Phase I of Griffin Pavilion was completed in 2004 and includes a Lowes Home Center, O'Reilly Auto Parts and Wells Fargo bank.