Mergers & Acquisitions

The nation’s largest auto dealership chain is expanding its brand into new areas of the automotive retail sector.    AutoNation announced it will debut a new format, a standalone concept called AutoNation USA, that will be dedicated to used-car sales and also serve as service centers, offering scheduled maintenance and repair work along with express service. The company has identified 25 sites to launch the concept, with five expected to open in 2017.     

The nation’s largest online retailer has big plans for brick-and-mortar expansion.  

Town Center Plaza, an 82,000-sq.-ft. center in Palm Desert, California, near Joshua Tree National Park, has been acquired by Citivest Commercial Investments for $19.8 million.   Constructed in 1993, the center’s tenants include Trader Joe’s, Michael’s, Fisherman’s Market and Grill, and Tuesday Morning. Colliers International brokered the deal on behalf of the seller, Town Center Plaza LP.  

Despite sales gains, Cabela’s experienced profit losses for the third quarter.   For the quarter ended Oct. 1, 2016, the outdoor retailer’s total revenue increased 7.6% to $996.5 million; revenue from retail store sales increased 8.1% to $688.6 million; Internet and catalog sales increased 3.6% to $167.4 million; and financial services revenue increased 8.8% to $134.5 million.   

Elliot S. Jaffe, ascena retail group’s co-founder and non-executive chairman of the board of directors, announced his plan to retire.   Jaffe co-founded dressbarn in 1962 and served as CEO until 2002. He was ascena’s chairman of the board until January 2011, and then transitioned to non-executive chairman.  

Ed Burstell will join Hudson’s Bay Company’s leadership team as head of partnerships.    In this newly created position, Burstell will develop and lead partnerships to drive innovative and exclusive offerings across all of HBC’s banners globally — a move that will help differentiate the company across the marketplace. Burstell, who comes aboard on Dec. 5, will report to the company’s CEO Jerry Storch.  

A spat with a toy vendor could make for a difficult holiday shopping season for Sears Holdings.   Due to claims of financial difficulties, reports claim that toy manufacturer Jakks Pacific has halted sales of its Star Wars and Disney Princess toys, among other merchandise, to “a major U.S. customer," which was presumed by some to be Kmart, according to CNBC.  

Several companies have reportedly expressed interest in acquiring the debt-laden American Apparel.   Brand licensors Authentic Brands Group and Iconix Brand Group are among the companies eying the chain, Reuters reported.   

Starbucks isn’t the only company that has big plans for China.   New Look, the British apparel retailer, is looking to expand to 500 stores over the next three years in China, Fortune reported. It currently operates a total of 850 stores globally, with 95 locations in China.  

Walmart has made another big e-commerce investment in China.   On the heels of launching three major e-commerce initiatives in China, Walmart will invest $50 million in New Dada — China’s largest local on-demand logistics and grocery online-to-offline (O2O) e-commerce platform.