Mergers & Acquisitions

Duluth, Ga. -- NCR Corp. will acquire Radiant Systems, a leading provider of multichannel point-of-sale and managed hosted service solutions to the hospitality and specialty retail markets, through a cash tender offer of $28.00 per Radiant Systems share. The equity purchase price of $1.2 billion has been approved by the boards of directors of each company.

It is expected the transaction will close during third quarter 2011, subject to regulatory approval.

NEW YORK — The Jones Group announced that it has entered into an exclusive, world-wide license agreement with Philip Simon Brands Group for the creation, production, marketing and global distribution of a fashion sneaker collection under the Nine West brand.  

New York City -- Convenience-store operator Sheetz will open a distribution facility by 2014 to support its expansion plans and increasing number of stores in the state, according to a report by The News & Observer. The distribution facility also will serve stores in southern Virginia and West Virginia, the report said.

Sheetz currently has 394 stores, with more than half in Pennsylvania. With a goal of 500 stores in three years, the chain is targeting North Carolina and West Virginia its top markets for expansion.

It’s only been two months since Walmart acquired an undisclosed minority interest in Chinese online supermarket operator Yihaodian, but now the company is indicating it may conduct an initial public stock offering in the United States, according to Bloomberg.

The new agency said the Shanghai-based company is looking to expand aggressively and quoted Yihaodian chairman Yu Gang as saying the company will most likely sell shares to the public in the United States but offered no timetable.

San Diego -- Warehouse club operator PriceSmart reported Thursday that net income for the quarter ended May 31 rose to $16.3 million, compared with $12 million in the year-ago period.

Sales surged 23.6% to $421.6 million, from $341.2 million.

The company had previously announced it acquired 131,524 sq. ft. of land in Cali, Colombia, upon which it will build its second warehouse club in Colombia.
 

Now that Walmart has completed its acquisition of a majority stake in South African retailer Massmart a major competitor contends it will need to lay off 8.6% of its work force to improve its competitive position.

That’s according to South African media reports indicating rival Pick n Pay Stores said it was looking to eliminate 3,137 of its 36,673 positions. Conversely, Walmart has said it will create 15,000 jobs in South Africa within five years, implying a fairly robust level of expansion.

Oak Brook, Ill. -- Inland Western Retail Real Estate Trust announced Wednesday the acquisition of Sawyer Heights Village in a joint venture with RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust.

Sawyer Heights Village, a 107,626-sq.-ft. power center located just outside the central business district in Houston, was purchased for approximately $35 million. 

Former Walmart China executives Rob Cissell and Shawn Gray have joined the retail subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, according to the Economic Times of India. Cissell will serve Reliance CEO and Gray will serve as COO, according to the newspaper.