Mergers & Acquisitions

Indianapolis - Lids Sports Group has acquired wholesale team sports company Nashville Sporting Goods and its production affiliate National Team Embellishment, both headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. The purchase includes Nashville Sporting Goods.

Wayne, N.J. – Toys “R” Us Inc. has named Chetan Bhandari senior VP, corporate finance and treasurer. In this capacity, Bhandari will be responsible for managing relationships with domestic and international lenders, depository banks, credit insurers and credit rating agencies, as well as overseeing the company’s global cash management, foreign exchange programs and capital markets activities.

North Bergen, N.J. - John Bowlin has been appointed to the board of directors of Vitamin Shoppe Inc., effective Oct. 1. Bowlin currently serves as a director of Generac Power Systems Inc. and the Schwann Food Company.

Prior to his current role, Bowlin most recently held the position of president and CEO of Miller Brewing Company. Throughout his career, Bowlin has served in senior leadership roles at Philip Morris Companies Inc., Kraft Foods Company, Oscar Mayer Food Corp. and General Foods Corp.

Atlanta - Global Payments Inc. has signed a referral agreement with BitPay, a provider of business solutions for the Bitcoin digital currency. This relationship allows Global Payments to incorporate the cryptocurrency into its product suite and to offer Bitcoin payment acceptance to its worldwide merchants.

Houston — JLL announced it has expanded its retail capabilities into Houston with the addition of Mark Raines as a senior VP. Partnering with Dallas retail brokerage lead Clay Smith and Austin and San Antonio market lead Todd Wallace, Raines will focus on JLL’s retail business including tenant representation and agency leasing and will serve as Houston’s retail brokerage leader.

Los Angeles — The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf has inked an exclusive deal with developer L.A. Style to expand the coffee and tea retailer into Japan by the end of this year.

L.A. Style is a joint-venture partnership between fast-casual restaurateur Hotland Co. and Japan’s largest shopping mall developer Aeon Mall Co.
The deal ultimately calls for 200 stores across Japan.

Dallas —
 SRS Real Estate Partners has hired Danielle M. O'Hara Murphy as a senior associate in the Orlando office. She will primarily focus on providing tenant representation for national retailers, as well as acquisitions, dispositions, investment properties and landlord representation.

O’Hara Murphy previously worked with CBRE, The Staubach Company and JLL.

Los Angeles — CBRE Group announced that it has acquired CBRE | Louisville, a commercial real estate services firm that has served as CBRE’s affiliate in metropolitan Louisville, Kentucky and southern Indiana since 1996.

The firm has a staff of 34 and manages more than 10 million sq. ft. in the region.

New York -- Uniqlo will make its Midwest debut in fall 2015, opening a flagship in downtown Chicago in fall 2015. The store, located at 830 North Michigan Avenue, will be Uniqlo’s second largest location in the United States, after its Fifth Avenue flagship in New York.

Deerfield, Ill. — Walgreens on Wednesday said it has exercised its option to buy the remaining 55% of European pharmacy retailer and wholesaler Alliance Boots in a $15.26 billion deal that will keep the drug store chain's corporate tax headquarters in the United States. Walgreens said it is not in the best long-term interest of its shareholders to re-domicile outside the United States.