Mergers & Acquisitions

Facing an increasingly competitive retail landscape, Canadian retailer Loblaw Cos. posted a slight lift in retail sales but, due to incremental margin investment in the back half of the year, lowered its earnings growth expectations for 2013.

However, company executives are optimistic as the company remains focused on investing in what it refers to as the “customer proposition” and looks forward to its acquisition of Shoppers Drug Mart.

New York -- Starbucks Coffee Company said it would pay Kraft Foods $2.79 billion to settle a dispute over the coffee-shop chain’s bagged-coffee business.

The payment, ordered by an arbitrator, consists of $2.23 billion in damages and $557 million in interest and attorneys’ fees. The company said it has adequate liquidity, both in the form of cash on hand and borrowing capacity, to fund the payment and will book it as a charge to its fiscal 2013 operating expenses.

Colorado Springs, Colo. -- Accellos, a provider of supply chain execution software solutions, announced its acquisition of PROFITsystems, a provider of  software as a service (SaaS) solutions for small and medium sized home goods retailers.

Alvarez & Marsal, a global professional services firm specializing in turnaround and interim management, performance improvement and business advisory services, has hired Tom Phelps as a managing director. He will help retailers in the U.S. and worldwide improve business performance.  

Whirlpool has promoted Joseph Liotine to president of the company's U.S. operations and appointed him to the corporation's executive committee. Liotine is currently VP of marketing for the company's North American region.

New York — SL Green Realty Corp. and partner Jeff Sutton have announced the formation of a venture that has acquired a 49-year leasehold interest covering the entire retail portion of 650 Fifth Avenue. The transaction was completed with former U. S. Magistrate Judge Kathleen A. Roberts, the court-appointed federal monitor and interim trustee of the landlord, 650 Fifth Avenue Company.

Pinnacle Foods reported a 1% increase in consolidated net sales for the third quarter ended Sept. 29 compared to the year-ago quarter, bolstered by the company’s North America retail business, which is made up of the Birds Eye Frozen and Duncan Hines Grocery segments and which increased 2%.

By Lynn Hinderaker, [email protected]

The future is knocking on the door of hedge fund manager and owner of Sears, Eddie Lampert. His decision to split off Lands’ End and Sears Auto Center from the core Sears brand would have been a good decision in 2004, one year after he purchased the deteriorating retail brand. Today, given the monumental shift in online purchasing behavior that has changed all of retailing, Lampert’s move is akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.