Mergers & Acquisitions

Dublin, Calif. -- Ross Stores’ said its Ross Dress for Less  will open three new locations in Texas on March 8, for a total of over 160 stores in the chain’s second largest state. The new Texas stores will be located in the Katy Mills shopping center in Katy, Rayzor Ranch Marketplace in Denton, and The Pavillions in El Paso.  

Ross is also expanding its dd’s Discounts brand, opening two new locations in Northern California on March 1. The new stores are in White Road Plaza in San Jose and Hatch Road Center in Ceres.

Align, a global provider of technology infrastructure solutions, has appointed Mark Rode as VP of sales and will drive solutions and programs focused on data center, application migrations, systems, networks and storage, cloud and managed services initiatives.

Management consulting firm Kurt Salmon has named Tom Cole as a partner in its Retail and Consumer Products Group.

San Diego — The Mansour Group has arranged the sale of a portfolio of 10 Walgreens properties located in secondary and tertiary markets throughout the Mid-south  in Arkansas Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Camden, N.J.

Mansour had the exclusive listing to market the properties on behalf of the seller, a private partnership. After generating more than three dozen offers, the portfolio sold to a private California 1031 exchange buyer who completed the sale of a multi-family property in San Francisco.

New York -- Bed Bath & Beyond has appointed Eugene A. Castagna, previously CFO and treasurer, to the role of COO. Susan E. Lattmann, formerly VP of finance, will fill the CFO and treasurer spot.
 
Castagna has been with the company since  1994 and has served as CFO and Treasurer since 2006. Previously, he served as assistant treasurer from 2002 to 2006 and as VP of finance from 2000 to 2006.

Discount Coupons has acquired Daily Deal Builder (DDB), a Daily Deal software and solutions provider.

DDB’s software platform allows anyone to set up, manage and host a feature-rich Daily Deal or coupon website. Currently, more than 150 companies in the U.S. and abroad utilize DDB as their Daily Deal software provider. DDB Founders Marc and Tyler Horne will remain with DDB and form part of the company's growing staff.

Dallas — SRS Real Estate Partners has hired Michael Straus as an associate in the Chicago office. Straus will focus on tenant and landlord representation as well as new business development.

He brings more than 15 years of managerial and sales experience to SRS. Prior to signing on with SRS, he worked for Student Transportation of America where he oversaw all aspects of operations and managed more than 1,100 employees across the Midwest. He managed sales and contract negotiations, lease renewals, development and acquisitions.

New York – Aeropostale Inc. is reportedly working with investment bank Barclays plc to investigate options including selling the company to a private equity firm or a regular equity sale. According to Bloomberg, Aeropostale CEO Tom Johnson is already trying to reverse four consecutive quarters of losses through new products and the closure of up to 40 stores.

In November 2013, major investor Crescendo Partners sent Aeropostale a letter demanding the company sell itself. Aeropostale and Barclays did not comment in the article.