Mergers & Acquisitions

Toronto, Canada — Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) is positioning itself for major global expansion with the purchase of the 15-year-old Galeria Kaufhof department store chain from German retail conglomerate Metro Group for about $3.17 billion. The planned purchase includes 103 Galeria Kaufof stores in Germany, as well as 16 German Sportarena stores and 16 Galeria Inno department stores in Belgium.

Toano, Va. – The executive shakeup continues at Lumber Liquidators as the company integrates the leadership of its merchandising and marketing departments. Marco Q. Pescara, the company's chief marketing officer since 2006, has been promoted to serve as chief merchandising and marketing officer effective June 19.

Pescara will lead the company's marketing and merchandising functions. The employment of William K. Schlegel, current chief merchandising officer, will be terminated effective June 19.

Cincinnati — Phillips Edison Grocery Center Reit II Inc. has purchased the Old Alabama Square center in Alpharetta, Ga. Old Alabama Square is a 103,268-sq.-ft. shopping center anchored by the Fresh Market.

This acquisition adds the first Fresh Market grocery-anchored shopping center to the company’s portfolio. The center also features national tenants Walgreens, Firehouse Subs, Verizon Wireless and State Farm.

Woonsocket, R.I., and Minneapolis —Target plans to sell its pharmacy business to CVS Health for $1.9 billion and rebrand its nearly 1,700 prescription departments as CVS/pharmacy in a blockbuster deal that stunned the healthcare world.

A nine month search is over for automotive retailer Pep Boys who turned to rental car giant Hertz for a new CEO to lead the 800 unit parts and service chain.

Pep Boy had been looking for a new CEO since last September when former CEO Mike Odell stepped down after seven years with the company and longtime board member John Sweetwood was tapped to fill the CEO position on an interim basis.

Target’s annual meeting was pretty much a non-event on June 10, aside from the fact that a corporate structure in which Brian Cornell serves as both chairman and CEO doesn’t sit well with many shareholders. 

U.S. consumers have more options for grocery shopping than ever before. But German discount grocer Lidl, aiming to emulate the U.S. success of the growing Aldi chain, says it will “create a unique experience for American consumers that will be unlike anything else in the market.”

Off-price retailer Ollie’s quietly doubled in size the past few years and now the company plans to go public, accelerating growth of no-frills stores it affectionately refers to as “semi-lovely” warehouses.

Ollie’s operates 181 stores in the Eastern U.S. that last year generated annual sales $638 million and net income of $26.9 million.

Target chairman and CEO Brian Cornell commented on the chain’s new partnership with CVS Health in a Q&A on Target’s blog, A Bullseye View. Here are some excerpts: 

Neckarlsum, Germany — Another German supermarket retailer has its sights set on the United States: Discount grocer Lidl on Friday announced it is establishing a U.S. corporate headquarters, in Arlington County, Va. The move comes as rival Aldi contines to aggressively expand throughout the United States.