Mergers & Acquisitions

Staples is giving itself three more months before calling off its proposed $6.3 billion acquisition of Office Depot, giving the companies time to fight an antitrust lawsuit with the Federal Trade Commission.

The Golub Corp., operators of the Price Chopper grocery store chain, named Scott Grimmett as president and CEO. Grimmett, who has been part of the family-owned company’s succession plan since joining Golub in January 2012 as executive VP and COO, is the first non-family member to head up the chain. He replaces Jerry Golub, who has been appointed vice chairman of the board

La-Z-Boy Inc. announced the appointment of James Chickini as VP, real estate, responsible for real estate development initiatives for the La‑Z‑Boy Furniture Galleries store network, including corporate-operated locations, across North America.

Ascena Retail Group has a new senior vice president to lead the company through its next phase of growth.

The company announced that Duane Holloway has been named Senior Vice President and General Counsel, effective immediately. Holloway will serve on the company’s leadership team and report to David Jaffe, President and CEO. He will be responsible for overseeing all legal matters for the Company.

Wal-Mart Stores’ online push continues.

The retailer will merge its Bentonville-based information systems division with its Silicon Valley-based technology unit, zWalmartLabs, next month, Reuters reported.

The merger will create a new group called Walmart Technology.

The chain’s CIO, Karenann Terrell, and chief technical officer, Jeremy King, will continue to lead the information systems group and zWalmartLabs, respectively. Both will report to Neil Ashe, head of the chain e-commerce division, the report said.

Chico’s FAS has sold its Boston Proper women’s apparel business to a Los Angeles-based, consumer-focused private equity firm.

Brentwood Associates, whose portfolio includes J. McLaughlin and Soft Surroundings, announced Tuesday it has acquired the women’s apparel brand. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

When providing the BDO retail IPO outlook for 2015 at the beginning of this year, we asked: Will consumer businesses face a potential Alibaba hangover in 2015?
 

Joyce Leslie on Monday announced that it filed a motion on January 14th for court approval to set bid procedures and an auction date for a sale of most of its assets.

The young women’s fashion retailer had previously announced that it had filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 11 on Jan. 9.