Mergers & Acquisitions

Chicago -- Claire's Stores on Tuesday said its CEO, James D. Fielding, has resigned. He will be replaced by Beatrice Lafon, currently president of Claire’s Europe, effective April 2. The specialty retailer also posted a lower profit for the fourth quarter amid a drop in sales.

Fielding joined Claire's from The Walt Disney Co. in June 2012.

Brussels, Belgium -- Delhaize Group has signed an agreement with Tropic Group B.V. to divest all of its 39 Bosnian & Herzegovinian stores. Tropic Group B.V. is an entrepreneurial organization founded by retail executive Bojan Risović.

The transaction is expected to complete in third quarter 2014, subject to regulatory approval and working capital adjustments. Terms were not disclosed. Delhaize originally purchased the stores from Serbian retailer Delta Maxi in 2011.

Los Angeles and Tokyo — Pinkberry has selected Royal Holdings to roll out franchises across Japan. An experienced franchisee, Royal Holdings operates 722 restaurants across several brands.

The initial development plan calls for 50 Pinkberry frozen yogurt stores.

Dallas — SRS Real Estate Partners, in partnership with Cresa Toronto, has opened an office in Toronto, Canada. It is the company’s first Canadian office and second international location. Jamie Grossman, managing principal for Cresa Toronto will oversee the new office, while SRS has brought in Lindsay Ryder as first VP for SRS.

The sale of Unilever’s meat snack business to Jack Link’s closed this week, clearing the way for the Minong, Wis.-based company to pursue its global ambitions.

Jack Link’s is already the leading U.S. meat snack brand with a pervasive presence at retail but has set its sights on international growth.

Camp Hill, Pa. -- Rite Aid on Tuesday announced it has acquired Boston-based Health Dialog Services Corp., a provider of health coaching, shared decision making and healthcare analytics from Bupa, a London-based international healthcare services group. Through the acquisition, Health Dialog will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Rite Aid.

Beachwood, Ohio — DDR Corp. has announced that it sold 14 non-prime assets in the first quarter for gross proceeds of $198 million. The company’s share of the proceeds totaled $142 million. In addition, DDR currently counts 14 non-prime operating assets valued at $97 million and $36 million of non-income producing assets currently under contract. DDR expects its share of the proceeds from these transactions to come to $103.

Houston — Fuddruckers has opened its first restaurant in Europe — in Varese, Italy near Milan. The fast casual restaurant is the first of 10 planned by a new franchise partner, Vinum et Alia. Future sites being considered are in Italy, Poland and Switzerland.

The design of the 5,000-sq.-ft., 120-seat restaurant references Fuddruckers’ classic roadhouse origins.