Mergers & Acquisitions

Latham, New York -- DWM Facilities Maintenance announces today the promotion of Paul Meeks to executive VP of projects.  Meeks was an integral part of founding DWM with his brother David and has been with the company since its inception in 1997.

Unilever has sold its Slim-Fast brand to Kainos Capital. The supplier of food, home and personal care products will retain a minority stake in the business. Terms of the transaction, which was completed late this week, were not disclosed.

The transaction includes the Slim-Fast trademark and the global Slim-Fast business portfolio. Slim-Fast is sold throughout North America and in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Drawbridge, a leading cross-device advertising platform, has added former Apple exec Andy Miller to its board of directors.

Miller is a current adviser and the former president and COO of Leap Motion, as well as a former Partner at Highland Capital. Previously, Miller was VP of mobile advertising at Apple, reporting directly to Steve Jobs. He was co-founder and CEO of Quattro Wireless, which was acquired by Apple in 2009 and would become Apple's mobile advertising platform, iAd.

GE Capital is providing MerchSource with a $130 million senior credit facility providing working capital for the company’s operations in the U.S. and Hong Kong.
 
MerchSource, headquartered in Irvine, California, ideates, designs, develops and distributes a variety of consumer products in categories including electronics, toys, home décor, household accessories and pet supplies. Its products are sold in retailers such as Bed Bath & Beyond, CVS, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Target, Walgreens and Wal-Mart.
 

RPM International’s Rust-Oleum Group has acquired Krud Kutter, a marketer of specialty cleaning products for both residential and industrial markets. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Krud Kutter specializes in problem-solving cleaners and removers, which are, according to the company, water-based, biodegradable, nontoxic and VOC compliant. The brand is sold across the country in home centers, hardware stores, mass merchants and industrial supply outlets.   

Just a month after activist investor Carl Icahn became Family Dollar’s largest shareholder prompting concerns of a hostile takeover, the company reported its third straight quarterly decline in same-store sales.

Same-store sales for the third quarter ended May 31 decreased 1.8% because of fewer customer transactions, partially offset by an increase in the average customer transaction value. Sales in the third quarter of fiscal 2014 were strongest in the consumables category, driven primarily by strong growth in refrigerated/frozen food and tobacco.

Toronto -- Town Shoes Limited announced the opening of its first two DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse locations in Canada. DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse will open at Heartland Centre in Mississauga and Woodland Hills in Newmarket, Ontario, on Aug. 7.

The two new Canadian retail locations, each approximately 20,000 sq. ft. will make them the largest shoe stores in the country.

Steve Mahurin has left Orchard Supply Hardware, where the veteran home improvement merchant and retail industry executive held the title chief retail officer.

According to the San Jose, Calif.-based retailer, Mahurin’s position was eliminated as the company transitions to a focus on operations and expansion.