Mergers & Acquisitions

Mooresville, N.C. -- Angela F. Braly, 52, has been named to the Lowe’s board of directors, with a term expiring at Lowe’s 2014 annual meeting of shareholders. This brings Lowe’s board of directors to 12 members, 11 of whom are independent.

Laval, Quebec City -- Canadian convenience store giant Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. announced t it has signed, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Circle K Stores Inc., an agreement with Albuquerque Convenience and Retail to acquire 23 stores in New Mexico. Albuquerque Convenience and Retail is subsidiary of Phillips 66 Company.

XPO Logistics, a transportation logistics services provider in North America, has acquired Optima Service Solutions, a leading non-asset provider of last-mile logistics services for major retailers and manufacturers in the United States.

Walmart opened 32 of its small format Neighborhood Market stores during the third quarter and is on track to end the year with nearly 400 units enroute to bigger things in 2014.

Walmart’s small format stores generated third quarter same store sales of approximately 3.4%, according to the company, which rivals best-in-class supermarket competitors, namely Kroger.

New York -- Transportation logistics services provider XPO Logistics has acquired Optima Service Solutions, a non-asset provider of last-mile logistics services for major retailers and manufacturers in the United States.

The cash purchase price was $26.6 million, excluding any working capital adjustments, with no assumption of debt.

New York – Patrick F. McGuiness, CFO of Tiffany’s, has resigned his position effective Nov. 27, 2013. James M. Fernandez, 58, executive VP and COO of Tiffany’s, will assume the position of CFO on an interim basis.

Food Holdings, a leading nationwide provider of specialty foods, healthcare foods, gluten-free foods and direct-from-source artisanal foods to the professional foodservice market, has elected Justin Wiernasz, president of Innovative Food Holdings, to its board of directors.

Walmart is stupid to take on Amazon.com head-to-head in too many areas, according to Wharton marketing professor Stephen Hoch who, along with other members of academia and one retail futurist, weigh in on the competitive situation that promises to impact the entire retail industry.