Mergers & Acquisitions

Barnes & Noble named Tulane University president Scott Cowen to its board a after a major shareholder disclosed it was dumping 90% of its stake in the company and relinquishing a seat on the board of directors.

Cowen serves as president of Tulane University in New Orleans and also holds the titles of Seymour S. Goodman Memorial Professor of Business in Tulane’s A.B. Freeman School of Business and Professor of Economics in the School of Liberal Arts.

Former Office Depot executive Monica Luechtefeld has joined the board of e-commerce solutions provider PFSweb.

Luechetfeld spent 20 years at Office Depot serving in a variety of leadership roles in the areas of e-commerce, supply chain, information technology, marketing and business development. She left Office Depot in 2012 after holding senior roles such as EVP of European e-commerce, EVP of e-commerce and digital marketing and founded her own consulting firm. Luechetfeld was also a founding member of the National Retail Federation’s Shop.org organization.

Fredericton, Canada -- Plaza Retail REIT plans six new Canadian retail projects: four new re-developments and two new ground-up development projects. Four projects are located in Quebec, one in Atlantic Canada and one in Ontario.

In all, Plaza will be investing approximately $24 million for its share of these six new projects and will add approximately 155,000-sq.-ft. to its portfolio of retail properties (at Plaza's ownership percentage). The Ontario project and three Quebec projects are being developed with joint venture partners.

New York -- Liberty Media Corp. has entered into agreements to reduce its stake in Barnes & Noble. Liberty Media informed Barnes & Noble that while Liberty has sold the majority of its shares to qualified institutional buyers, it will retain approximately 10% of its initial $204 million investment, which could be converted to a 17% ownership stake.

Former H.H. Gregg EVP and COO Gregg Throgmartin has been name CEO at upstart cycling retailer BikeStreet.

Throgmartin resigned from HH Gregg after a 13 year career which saw him rise to become EVP and COO of the 228 store consumer electronics retailer. He joins BikeStreet, a company founded in 2012, as it embarks on an ambitious strategy to growth from 17 stores to more than 1,000 stores during the next seven years.

Los Angeles -- Guitar Center's total debt has been reduced by approximately $500 million and annual cash interest expense has been reduced by more than $70 million. The improved financial position of the company will enable Guitar Center's management team to further invest in its people, store base and brands to accelerate growth.

Online home goods retailer Tablesets.com said digital innovator Weihu Yan has made an investment in and joined the company as a strategic advisor.

Houston -- Mattress Firm Holding Corp. announced it has completed its acquisition of the outstanding partnership interests in Sleep Experts Partners.

With the acquisition, Mattress Firm expects to operate an additional 55 stores in the Dallas and Austin markets, two of Mattress Firm’s core markets.

Mattress Firm operates 1,400 stores across 33 states.