Mergers & Acquisitions

Amarillo, Texas – Parent, a company owned by New Jersey-based licensing and memorabilia mogul Joel Weinshanker, has purchased multimedia entertainment retailer Hastings Entertainment for $21.4 million. The publicly traded Hastings will go private and operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Parent.

New York - Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. (ESRT), a New York-based real estate investment trust, has completed the acquisition of the ground and operating leases at 112 West 34th Street and the ground lease at 1400 Broadway for a total of approximately $734 million in cash, common stock and operating partnership units. 112 West 34th Street is a 26-story, 650,769-rentable-sq.-ft.office tower, with 92,455-sq.-ft. of retail space located in the 34th Street/Penn Station submarket.

Seattle - Hardy Capital Partners, along with a small group of Canadian investors, have acquired 100% of OnlineShoes.com, a $140 million profitable online footwear retailer based out of Seattle. Hardy Capital Partners has also acquired 100% of ShoeMe.ca, a Vancouver-based online footwear retailer, for an undisclosed amount.

Dublin, Calif. – Ross Dress for Less will open two new stores in the Mid-Atlantic region on July 19. The stores opening are in the MacDade Mall in Glenolden, Pennsylvania and Windsor Heights Shopping Center in East Windsor, New Jersey.

These new openings are part of the retailer’s 2014 expansion program, totaling approximately 75 new locations during the year.

Birmingham, Mich. -- Mid-America Real Estate Corporation’s Investment Sales team, in cooperation with NAI Farbman, recently brokered the sale of The Willits Retail in Birmingham, Michigan. The 25,396-sq.-ft. asset was purchased by Southfield, Michigan-based Seligman Group.

The Willits Retail is located at the southeast corner of Willits Street and Bates Street in the Detroit suburb of Birmingham. Willits features Mitchell’s Fish Market and Cameron’s Steakhouse, together with TD Ameritrade and Darakjian Jewelers.

New York -- The daily-deals website LivingSocial on Tuesday named Gautam Thakar, a longtime eBay executive, as its incoming president and CEO. Thakar heads the e-commerce giant's Shopping.com price comparison site.

He will replace co-founder and outgoing CEO Tim O’Shaughnessy by mid-August.

Greenwood Village, Colorado -- Red Robin Gourmet Burger announced it has completed the acquisition of 32 Red Robin franchised restaurants in the United States and Canada, for approximately $40 million from Mach Robin, LLC and Mach Robin, LLC’s Canadian affiliate.

Indianapolis – Simon has named retail and real estate executive Stephen Yalof as CEO of premium outlets and senior executive VP of Simon. Yalof has served as senior VP of real estate for Ralph Lauren Corp. since 2002.
 
His 15 years of experience within the retail industry also includes his role as senior director of real estate for Gap. Yalof began his career in real estate at New Plan Realty Trust, and became VP of leasing for their factory outlet business. 

Union, N.J. - Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. has priced three series of senior unsecured notes for an aggregate principal amount of $1.5 billion. Of these notes, $300 million will mature in August 2024, $300 million will mature in August 2034, and $900 million will mature in August 2044.

The offering is expected to close, subject to normal closing conditions, on July 17, 2014. The company intends to use the proceeds from this offering for share repurchases of its common stock and for general corporate purposes.

Chesapeake, Va. - Randy Guiler has joined Dollar Tree Inc. as VP, investor relations. Guiler, 49, is joining Dollar Tree after nearly 15 years with Tractor Supply Company, including leading Tractor Supply’s investor relations efforts for the past 10 years.

Prior to his role as VP, investor relations & corporate communications, Guiler also had responsibility for Tractor Supply’s treasury and risk management functions. Guiler will succeed Timothy Reid, 61, who is retiring.