Mergers & Acquisitions

West Des Moines, Iowa - WineStyles Tasting Station, a boutique wine and craft beer retail chain, is launching expansion plans to grow its national footprint. The company currently has more than 20 locations across the country, and aims to grow the business to nearly 50 stores during the next several years through franchising.

O’Reilly Automotive says it plans to build a new distribution center in Texas to help support its 205 new stores in 2015.

America’s second largest retailer in the automotive aftermarket industry said its expansion plans are on track after profit rose in the first quarter on higher sales and better margins, continuing a trend of 15% or greater profit growth for the past six years.

Chicago -- Sears Holdings Corp. has tapped former Rouse Properties COO Benjamin Schall to lead new Sears REIT Seritage Growth Properties. The real estate investment trust was formed by Sears to buy some of its stores and generate $2.5 billion in cash.

Schall’s appointment is effective May 4. He spent three years as COO of publicly traded REIT Rouse, overseeing operations of 35 malls in 21 states.  

New York -- Following its January 2015 spinoff from private-equity firm Sycamore Partners, Jones New York has been acquired by Authentic Brands Group, LLC, owner of a global portfolio of fashion, sports, media and entertainment brands.

Sycamore previously announced it would close all Jones New York retail locations and seek strategic alternatives for the beleaguered brand.

New York -- On the heels of disappointing sales trends, Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc. said that its CEO W. Bruce Johnson will leave the company Aug. 1.

The company also announced that the board of directors has commenced a search for a new CEO and has retained Heidrick & Struggles, a leading global executive search firm, to assist the Board in identifying and evaluating external and internal candidates.

New York -- A major new credit agreement has been secured by the 262 store Hancock Fabric chain with Wells Fargo Capital and the newly formed Great American Capital Partners subsidiary of B. Riley Financial.

The new financing deal, executed a year and a half before an existing credit facility was due to expire, provides the struggling Hancock Fabric chain with a new five year, $100 million asset-backed credit facility from Wells Fargo and a $17.5 million term loan from Great American.

Costco shareholders are a happy lot these days between the company’s surging share price, huge special dividends and now another substantial increase in the company’s regular quarterly payout.

Late Friday, with shareholders already sitting on a 30% increase in the stock price during the past year, the company gave them another reason to smile by hiking its dividend 12.3% to 40 cents a share, or $1.60 on an annual basis, from the current quarterly dividend of 35.5 cents, or $1.42.

San Jose, Calif. – eBay Inc. topped Wall Street expectations for both profit and revenue in the first quarter of fiscal 2015. Growth in transactions and efforts to control expenses helped produce net income of $626 million, compared to a net loss of $2.33 billion the same quarter a year earlier.