Mergers & Acquisitions

St. Louis – Panera Bread Co. has named Drew Madsen president, effective May 11. He will report to Ron Shaich, chairman and CEO, and oversee the core café business, while Shaich focuses on strategy, growth initiatives and innovation across the company.

Madsen served as president and COO of Darden Restaurants Inc. He also previously served as president of Darden's Olive Garden chain and was Olive Garden's executive VP of marketing prior to that.

New York -- Commercial real estate services firm DTZ, which is backed by private-equity firm TPG, has entered into a deal to acquire rival Cushman & Wakefield Inc. for $2 billion.

The combined company will have 43,000 employees, annual revenues of more than $5.5 billion and manage more than 4 billion square feet of real estate globally.  It will operate under the Cushman & Wakefield name.

Austin, Texas – Epicor Software Corp. is spinning off its retail solutions business into a separate, privately held company, in partnership with funds advised by Apax Partners. Referred to as “SpinCo” until the transaction is finalized, the Epicor retail solutions business continues under the leadership of Noel Goggin, executive VP and general manager.

Seattle – Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Holding Group Ltd. has disclosed it holds a 9.3% stake in online retailer Zulily. Alibaba has purchased about 4.8 million class A shares for $56 million. This represents about 17% of Zulily’s Class A stock.

Chicago -- JLL is getting a big boost to its retail business by acquiring Wilson Retail Group, an independent retail brokerage and capital markets firm in Southern California.

The transaction will enable JLL, the nation’s largest third-party retail property manager, to provide a broader range of brokerage and investment sales services to retailers and investors in a core urban gateway. The transaction closed for an undisclosed sum.

Secaucus, N.J. – The Children’s Place Inc. is publicly criticizing a report from proxy advisory service Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) recommending that shareholders elect one of two board nominees from activist investors Macellum SPV II L.P. and Barington Companies Equity Partners L.P. ISS supports election of Robert L. Mettler but recommends against electing Seth R. Johnson.

Toronto - Lowe's Canada has reached an agreement to acquire the leases of 13 former Target Canada locations and to purchase Target's distribution center in Milton, Ontario, for a total purchase price of about $125 million. This acquisition came as part of a real estate auction following Target's decision to cease operations in Canada.

Former Walgreens CEO Greg Wasson is one of three top retail industry executives confirmed as inductees into the Grocery Manufacturers Association’s Hall of Achievement when the trade group holds a gala event in conjunction with its annual meeting this fall.

GMA will also honor former ConAgra Foods CEO Gary Rodkin and Chairman of the Board of Flowers Foods George Deese with the GMA Hall of Achievement Award in August.