Mergers & Acquisitions

Boston -- Palladin Consumer Retail Partners announced a majority investment in Harrys of London, a London-based luxury shoemaker and accessories house known for combining traditional craftsmanship with the latest footwear technology.    The Palladin investment will provide Harrys with capital to expand its operating team, open additional retail stores and invest in new initiatives to fund growth including marketing, merchandising, product development, and e/m-commerce.

Mahwah, N.J. -- Michael Rayden, president and CEO of Ascena Retail Group’s tween apparel brands Justice and Brothers, and a member of the Ascena board, is retiring at the end of Jan. 2015. Ascena has tapped Herbert Mines Associates to start a global search for a president and CEO of Justice and Brothers.   

Los Angeles --Great American Group has been selected as a stalking horse bidder in the potential liquidation of Alco Stores, which operates 198 general merchandise discount stores in 23 states. Great American is a leading provider of asset disposition and auction solutions, advisory and valuation services, capital investment, and real estate advisory services.

Former Snyder’s-Lance CEO David V. Singer is the newest member of the board of directors at apparel manufacturer HanesBrands.

Singer, 59, joins the 10 member board through the 2015 annual meeting when directors stand for re-election. He will serve on the company’s audit committee.

The world’s leading beverage company is intensify efforts to generate high single digit earnings per share growth after strategies introduced earlier this year have been slow to take hold and third quarter earnings fell 13%.

Coca-Cola Company CEO Muhtar Kent unveiled a new slate of actions to reinvigorate growth and cut expenses in conjunction with the release of disappointing third quarter results. Revenues were essentially flat with the prior year at $12 billion during the quarter ended Sept. 26 while earnings per share declined 13% to 48 cents from 53 cents.

Epicor Software Corp. has agreed to acquire privately held QuantiSense, Inc., a provider of cloud and on-premises packaged analytic solutions for the retail industry. The acquisition of QuantiSense, expected to close by Oct. 31, 2014, will add QuantiSense business intelligence and advanced retail analytics offerings to the Epicor Retail solutions portfolio, helping empower users to leverage enterprise-wide data as actionable insights to optimize all aspects of their operations, from the supply chain through to multi-channel points of purchase.

L'Oréal USA has announced plans to acquire multi-cultural beauty brand Carol's Daughter.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Created by Lisa Price in 1993, Carol's Daughter offers a range of products that are available at specialty beauty stores, mass retailers, on HSN, through e-commerce and at Carol's Daughter branded stores in New York City. For the 12 months ended Sept. 30, Carol's Daughter had net sales of $27 million.

New York -- L'Oreal USA will acquire New York-based omnichannel beauty retailer Carol's Daughter, which sells its products through specialty beauty stores, mass retailers, HSN, e-commerce and two Carol's Daughter-branded stores in New York City.

Matthews, N.C. -- Family Dollar Stores Inc. has set Oct. 30., 2014 as the date for stockholders to vote on a proposed merger agreement with Dollar Tree Inc. Family Dollar has not yet set the time or location of the vote.