Mergers & Acquisitions

Elmsford, N.Y. - Party City has promoted Gregg A. Melnick to the position of president of Party City Holdings, effective immediately. Party City Holdings is the parent company of the Party City Retail Group and Amscan Inc., among other entities.  

Most recently, Melnick was the president of the Party City Retail Group. Melnick will partner with all of the key department heads across both the retail and wholesale divisions to provide the leadership to strengthen the brands and create opportunities for greater collaboration.

Paris -- LVMH announced the appointment of Caroline Brown as CEO of Donna Karan International, effective Jan. 15. She currently serves as president of Carolina Herrera.

Brown will replace Mark Weber, the incumbent CEO of Donna Karan International, who is becoming a consultant for LVMH.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – Sears Holdings Corp. is selling most of its 51% stake in its Sears Canada division to shareholders as its looks to boost its liquidity before the crucial holiday selling season. Sears, which previously said it was exploring options for the struggling Sears Canada unit and retained Bank of America Merrill Lynch in May 2014, expects to raise as much as $380 million by November 2014. 

Fort Worth, Texas -- Trademark Property Co., the Fort Worth-based retail and mixed-use development, investment, and third-party services firm, announced that Kara Rafferty has joined the firm as director of leasing. An 18-year industry veteran, Rafferty will focus on Trademark’s leasing efforts throughout Texas.

Vantiv, a leading provider of payment processing services and related technology for merchants and financial institutions, has appointed Larry Drury as its chief marketing officer. Drury will report directly to CEO Charles Drucker.

Boston – Online home furnishings retailer Wayfair Inc. launches its initial public offering (IPO) today. The online home furnishings retailer is offering 11 million shares of common stock at $29 per share, which is above Wall Street projections.

The share offering includes 10.5 million shares of Wayfair stock and 500,000 shares from selling stockholders. Wayfair will not receive any proceeds from the selling stockholder shares, meaning the company should raise about $304.5 million in the IPO.

Maplewood, Minn. -- Mid-America Real Estate Corporation’s investment sales team recently brokered the sale of Birch Run Station in Maplewood, Minnesota. The 278,347-sq.-ft. center was purchased by Greenwood Village, Colorado-based GDA Real Estate for $27.35 million.

Birch Run Station is located at the northwest quadrant of Beam Avenue and Southlawn Drive adjacent to the Maplewood Mall. The center is anchored by Marshalls, Jo-Ann Stores, Burlington Coat Factory, Herberger’s, and Dollar Tree.