Mergers & Acquisitions

The back and forth between Jos. A. Banks and Men’s Wearhouse continues. This time the shoe is on Jos. A. Banks’ foot, as the company’s board of directors officially rejected an unsolicited buyout offer from the Men’s Wearhouse.

Jos. A. Bank called the offer, which expires March 28, 2014, and is worth $57.50 per share, or about $1.6 billion, “inadequate and opportunistic.”

The Federal Trade Commission has granted Kroger and Harris Teeter Supermarkets early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 with respect to the pending merger transaction between the two companies.
 
The early termination of the HSR waiting period satisfies one of the conditions to the closing of the pending merger, which remains subject to other customary closing conditions. Both companies expect the transaction to be completed before the end of January.

In its PizzaRev case study series, CSA Online offers an insider’s look at the conception, initial rollout and growth of the southern Calif.-based fast-casual concept PizzaRev. Likened to “the Chipotle of pizza,” this innovative chain lets customers choose from an artisanal array of toppings to craft their own pizzas very quickly in a high-end stone hearth oven.

Dallas -- Corner Bakery Cafe rounded out 2013 with a multi-unit restaurant development agreement and plans to open eight new restaurants in the Sacramento area with new franchise partner East Bay Restaurants, Pleasanton, Calif.

East Bay Restaurants, which owns and operates 48 Burger King and seven Taco Bell restaurants, plans to open its first cafe in 2014 and the remaining sites over the next five years.

Overstock.com has reason to celebrate after a district court in Salt Lake City, Utah, ruled in the online retailer’s favor, denying breach of contract and other claims for damages of $1.7 million.

The company said that in Haddadin v. Overstock, two brothers asserted they were entitled to damages of $1.7 million, plus future royalties, when the it contracted with Ed and Ayman Haddadin for the creation of an auto sales store on the e-tailer's website.

Armonk, N.Y. – IBM plans to commit more than $1.2 billion to significantly expand its global cloud footprint. This investment includes a network of data centers designed to bring clients greater flexibility, transparency and control of how they manage their data, run their businesses and deploy their IT operations in the cloud.

Woonsocket, R.I. – CVS Caremark has completed the acquisition of Coram LLC, the specialty infusion services and enteral nutrition business unit of Apria Healthcare Group Inc. Coram cares for approximately 165,000 patients annually and has 4,600 employees, including 600 nurses, 350 pharmacists and 250 dietitians, operating primarily through 85 branch locations and six centers of excellence for patient intake.

Albertsons has confirmed that it plans to close 26 locations.

“This is part of our typical review cycle, and after reviewing store performance, we determined that these stores could not be positioned for future profitability, with the exception of the two stores in Acme that were closed for underperformance. The two Acme stores were closed because the leases are expiring,” the company said in a statement sent to sister publication Drug Store News.