Mergers & Acquisitions

Framingham, Mass. -- Staples Advantage, the business-to-business division of Staples, announced that its Print Solutions business has acquired PRINTSouth Corp. (operating as “Miami Systems”), a leading national manufacturer of business forms. Customers of Staples Print Solutions and Miami Systems will benefit from expanded product and service offerings, improved distribution capabilities and shared best practices, Staples reported.

New York City -- Two of Russia's largest grocery store chains, Pyaterochka and Kopeika, said on Monday that they would merge their operations in a move that would better position them to compete with Wal-Mart Stores, which is expected to enter the Russian market, according to the New York Times.

New York City -- Build-A-Bear is looking for a buyer and has approached private-equity firms, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg reported.

Barclays Capital is advising the company, the report said. The St. Louis-based chain, founded by Maxine Clark, opened its first store in 1997.

New York City -- Activist investor Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management raised its stake in Borders Group from 31.5% to 37.3% and is prepared to finance an offer by Borders to buy larger rival Barnes & Noble, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday.

According to the statement, Ackman is prepared to finance an offer by Borders to buy all of Barnes & Noble’s stock in an all-cash transaction valued at $16 per share, which would amount to about $960 million, based on the shares outstanding.

New York City -- Walgreens on Friday reported that its same-store sales rose 3.2% in November. The drugstore operator’s total sales rose 8.6% to $5.83 billion. (Duane Reade stores, acquired in April 2010, contributed 2.8% points to the total sales increase for the month. But those stores are not included in the same-store sales report.)

Meanwhile, Rite Aid Corp. reported that its November same-store sales fell 1.3% due to the introduction of new generic drugs and a decline in prescriptions resulting partly from a milder flu season.

New York City -- Robert K. Futterman & Associates said it has been retained as the exclusive retail leasing agent for the Manhattan franchisee of Elevation Burger, which controls the chain’s locations south of 50th Street and is currently the only Manhattan franchisee. 

Earlier this year, RKF represented the burger chain’s franchisee in the leasing of its Manhattan flagship location at 103 West 14th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. It is scheduled to open in December.

New York City -- Wal-Mart Stores has filed suit against CVS Caremark Corp. to prevent CVS from hiring former Wal-Mart executive Hank Mullany, according to a Friday report by Bloomberg.

CVS’s hiring of Mullany, former president of Wal-Mart’s northern U.S. division, would violate a noncompete agreement, Wal-Mart said in the complaint filed Thursday in Delaware Chancery Court.

According to Wal-Mart’s complaint, CVS has indicated that it intends to hire Mullany without regard to the agreement.

Dallas -- SRS Real Estate Partners announced it has appointed Stan Heller as executive VP of its lease administration service line.

In his new role, Heller will focus on helping the lease restructure and renewal team in lowering client occupancy costs, as well as pursuing new business for the company. The addition of Heller comes on the heels of a strategic move to grow the company’s lease administrative presence in the industry.