Mergers & Acquisitions

Phoenix — Vestar, a privately-held real estate company in the western U.S. that acquires and manages retail and entertainment destinations, has named Jenny Cushing as assistant VP of leasing. Cushing will be responsible for overseeing and growing the leasing efforts throughout Vestar’s California, Arizona & Nevada projects.

Hhgregg has added Robert J. Riesbeck to its executive team as CFO, as part of the retailer’s continued focus on transforming the business.

Riesbeck has more than 25 years of experience in financial and operations management. Most recently, he served as operations executive/group CFO at Sun Capital Partners where he was responsible for financial and operations oversight of a diverse group of portfolio companies with combined revenues exceeding $5 billion.

Melville, N.Y. — Global Facility Management & Construction has hired Jaime Trujillo, a former member of the sales team at facilities services provider Lennox, to its sales team.  In his new role as sales manager, Trujillo will be instrumental in developing new business and expanding existing accounts.

According to Lands’ End president and CEO Edgar Huber, the company is well positioned to continue executing against its strategic initiatives to drive long-term sales and earnings growth.

The retailer, which completed its separation from Sears on April 4, has achieved double digit year-over-year adjusted EBITDA growth for more than four consecutive quarters as of the second quarter of fiscal 2014.

Philadelphia – Five Below plans to open a new distribution center in Oldmans Township, New Jersey, in 2015. The center will replace an existing 421,000-sq.-ft. facility located in New Castle, Delaware.

Five Below will occupy approximately 700,000 sq. ft. of the facility to start with, and plans to grow to one million sq. ft. over time. The new distribution center, which is expected to be fully operational in the second half of 2015, will support the company's continued growth and expansion on the East Coast.

Starboard Value CEO and chief investment officer Jeffrey Smith has resigned from the Office Depot board, effective immediately. The company’s nominating and governance committee plans to start a search for a replacement.

Since Family Dollar’s board of directors unanimously rejected Dollar General’s second and sweetened tender offer from Sept. 2, Dollar General has decided to make the tender offer directly to the company’s shareholders.

The company’s all-cash offer of $80 per share beats Dollar Tree’s offer of $74.50 per share cash/stock offer originally made July 28. The Family Dollar board has rejected both Dollar General’s offers on the basis of antitrust regulatory considerations.

Goodlettsville, Tenn. – Dollar General Corp. is upping the ante in its $9.1 billion bid to purchase Family Dollar Inc. by making a hostile takeover offer to Family Dollar stockholders of $80 per share. This offer beats the $74.50 per share, $8.5 billion offer Family Dollar has accepted from Dollar Tree Inc, and is a 32% premium over the closing price of $60.66 for Family Dollar stock on Sept. 9.