Mergers & Acquisitions

Look for J.C. Penney to close some stores as it moves forward.    In remarks at the The Weitzman Group’s annual forecast event, Penney CEO Marvin Ellison said the company’s 1,014-store portfolio is too large and that the retailer is analyzing which locations don’t meet its “brand standard,” the Dallas Business Journal reported.   

Supervalu Inc. swung to a loss in its third quarter amid increased competition in the retail segment.   The company reported a net loss of $26 million during its 2017 fiscal third quarter, ended Dec. 3, as revenue fell 1.4% to $3 billion.      The loss, however, included a settlement charge of $41 million related to pensions and also store closure charges.     

Aeropostale, the teen apparel retailer that most of the industry had written off as dead, has risen like a Phoenix.     Starting this week, the company is reopening more than 500 doors across the United States. In February, Aéropostale will kick off its spring 2017 marketing campaign, which is designed to showcase the brand’s trans-formation under its new owners. The campaign will be in the stores as well as online and through social media.    

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is making a play for a department store and mall operator in China.   The company made a $2.6 billion bid for Intime Retail, with a plan to take it private, reported the New York Times. Alibaba already owns a 28% stake in the company, which operates 29 department stores and 17 shopping malls in China, mainly in first- and second-tier cities.  

The founder of Rent-A-Center has returned to lead the company while it looks for a new CEO.   The nation's largest rent-to-own operator said that Robert D. Davis has resigned as CEO and director, effective immediately. A 23-year company veteran, Davis was named CEO in February 2014 after holding a variety of management positions.  

Dakota REIT has acquired what instantly became the largest shopping center in its portfolio — the 114,102-sq.-ft. Pinehurst Square East in Bismarck, North Dakota.   The Fargo-based REIT’s retail holdings consist primarily of neighborhood centers under 60,000-sq.-ft. in the Dakotas and Minnesota. Its largest center prior to the Pinehurst acquisition was the 103,860-sq.-ft. First Center South in Fargo.  

Houston-based developer Levcor Inc. has asked a North Carolina town to rezone an 11-acre parcel to accommodate a shopping center of up to 100,000 sq. ft.   The site resides just south of CBL’s Hanes Mall and a power strip consisting of Home Depot, Lowe’s, Costco, and Sam’s Club in Winston-Salem. Levcor is asking that the property, assembled from multiple lots, be rezoned from residential, single family use to general business special use.  

Canadian apparel manufacturer Gildan Activewear Inc. emerged as the winner in the court supervised auction to acquire the bankrupt American Apparel brand and some of its other assets. The company, however, will not be purchasing American Apparel’s 110 retail stores.   Gilden’s $88 million winning bid was higher than its initial proposal of $66 million, which was made back in November as part of a stalking horse portion of American Apparel LLC’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing.   

Amazon is bolstering end-user cyber-security.   The online giant’s cloud services group quietly acquired cyber security firm harvest.ai, a San Diego-based startup that uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to analyze online user behavior, according to TechCrunch.  

O’Connor Capital Partners has acquired The Shops at Stonefield in Charlottesville, Virginia, from Edens for $121 million.   The 231,761-sq.-ft. Town Center portion of the property, which is two miles from the campus of the University of Virginia, opened in 2013. A 33,422-sq.-ft. Northside portion was completed in 2016. Key Tenants include Trader Joe’s, Regal Cinema, Pottery Barn, Brooks Brothers, and Bluemercury.