Mergers & Acquisitions

New York -- Jones New York stores won’t be shutting out the lights up north.

Canadian menswear retailer Grafton Fraser Inc. has acquired Jones New York’s 35 stores in Canada for an undisclosed amount. The Toronto-based company said it is planning "significant growth" in the number of Jones stores going forward.

Framingham, Mass. – The TJX Cos. Inc. apparently has a taste for vegemite.

TJX is purchasing Trade Secret, an off-price retailer that operates 35 stores in Australia, from Gazal Corp. Ltd. for $58.45 million. The acquisition of Trade Secret provides TJX an opportunistic entry into Australia, where it currently operates one of its 13 buying offices.

Hangzhou, China – A week after unveiling a cloud protection plan and releasing more than 60 new cloud products and solutions through its cloud computing subsidiary Aliyun, Alibaba is not standing still.

The Chinese Internet giant is firmly staking a claim in the cloud with the planned investment of an additional $1 billion to fuel further growth at Aliyun.

Boston -- A veteran retailer with experience in running big national chains has joined City Sports as its new chief executive.

The Boston-based company tapped Marty Hanaka, who has served on the board of directors of City Sports since 2008, as its new chief executive. Hanaka was the interim CEO of Guitar Center from January 2013 to April 2013. Previously, he served as CEO of Golfsmith Holdings (from June 2008 to November 2012) and of The Sports Authority (from September 1998 to August 2003.) Prior to that, he was the president and COO of Staples.

A veteran retailer with experience in running big national chains has joined City Sports as its new chief executive.

A week after releasing more than 60 new cloud products and solutions through its cloud computing subsidiary Aliyun, Alibaba is making more bold moves.

TJX has been on a growth and revenue spree of late, and now the off-price retailer is apparently looking to expand down under.

Whole Foods Market Inc. says it is taking the right steps to position itself for the long term and sees demand for more than 1,200 stores in the United States despite reporting a lackluster increase in same store sales for the third quarter.  

The health foods grocery retailer posted a same store sales increase of just 1.3% for third quarter ended July 5. Analysts had expected a 3% increase. The company did report  earnings of 43 cents per share on $3.63 billion in revenue. Total sales increased 8% to a record $3.6 billion.

Northbrook, Ill. - Hilco Merchant Resources LLC (HMR), a provider of retail disposition services such as liquidation and acquisitions, has purchased online retail and daily deal e-commerce platform Deal Genius LLC.

Deal Genius was launched as a flash retail sales web business in 2004. The site delivers daily deals on brand name home goods, apparel, consumer electronics, pet supplies and other merchandise.  The company was founded by CEO Chris Matsakis, who will continue in that role going forward.  

Minneapolis – Supervalu Inc. beat Wall Street expectations for profit in the first quarter of fiscal 2016 and also announced it is considering spinning off its Save-A-Lot grocery banner. Net earnings soared 42% to $61 million, from $43 million in the same quarter the prior fiscal year.

Cost of sales rose at a slower pace than net sales, aiding profit growth. Net sales rose 3% to $5.41 billion, from $5.26 billion.