Mergers & Acquisitions

MINNEAPOLIS — Target has unveiled the first wave of the Zellers sites it will be taking over in Canada, representing 105 locations in all 10 Canadian provinces. The vast majority of the sites will become Target stores after securing the necessary construction approval for extensive renovation. The stores will open beginning in 2013.

Washington, D.C. — Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc. and The Peterson Cos. announced that they have entered into a joint venture agreement to develop, manage and lease Tanger Outlets at National Harbor.

Walmart CFO Charles Holley participated in the Citi Global Consumer Conference this past Tuesday, and he had the challenge of appearing just one week after Walmart released first-quarter results. Given the timing, it would have been reasonable to expect that he wouldn’t have a lot of new information to share, and while he certainly covered a lot of familiar ground, there was one area that stood out.

New York — Bill Ackman, the founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, has taken a “passive” stake in Family Dollar Stores, Bloomberg reported.  Ackman, speaking at the Ira Sohn Conference in New York, said he invested in Family Dollar Stores  because it’s “very reasonably priced” and may be acquired.

“It’s a good business, it’s done very well for a long time,” he said, according to the report. “It’s an attractive LBO transaction.” 

COLUMBUS, Ohio — For the first time, Big Lots is expanding its retail operations outside of the United States with the announcement that it has agreed to purchase all of the outstanding stock of Liquidation World Inc., an Ontario based retailer which operates 92 closeout stores in Canada. 

Secaucus, N.J. — Syms Corp. said Thursday it is mulling selling itself and other strategic alternatives as the company continues to struggle after acquiring Filene’s Basement in 2009.

The off-price retailer, which bought Filene’s out of bankruptcy for $62.4 million in 2Q 2009, said its board is currently evaluating its options. It reported a loss at the end of its fiscal year in February, and losses had widened as of earlier this month.

PAWTUCKET, R.I. — Hasbro announced that it is reorganizing its global games business and moving its games marketing and games development employees from East Longmeadow, Mass. to Rhode Island. 

Final attendance numbers aren’t available yet, and while RECon 2011 may not have been the really, really big show it was in 2007, the International Council of Shopping Centers’ annual Las Vegas convention was clearly a big event.

Pre-recession, the show attracted in excess of 50,000 retailers, retail service providers and shopping center executives to view the latest and greatest projects coming out of the ground. This year’s May 23 to 25 iteration didn’t pull 50k, but best guesses put attendance at over 30,000.