Mergers & Acquisitions

New York — Authentic Brands Group LLC (ABG) , whose brands include Jones New York and Juicy Couture, has closed on its purchase of Frederick's of Hollywood Group for an undisclosed sum. Previous reports indicated the acquisition agreement, announced in April 2015, was for $22.5 million.

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.

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: 

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.

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. 

San Antonio, Texas — CST Brands Inc., through its CrossAmerica Partners LP wholly-owned subsidiary, has acquired the Charleston, West Virginia-based One Stop convenience store network. CST is also moving 29 recently constructed stores into its wholly-owned CrossAmerica partnership via two “dropdown” transactions.

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.

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.”