Corporate Governance

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.

Consumer goods manufacturer SC Johnson continues to make progress on an ambitious waste reduction goal by securing “zero landfill” status at its eighth global manufacturing facility.

The company has set a target of reducing its global manufacturing waste by 70% by 2016. From 2000 to 2012 the company reduced its waste by 62% as a ratio to production.

Cincinnati -- The Kroger Co. announced that senior VP Robert "Pete" Williams plans to retire in May after 37 years with the company.

Williams, who began his Kroger career in 1977 as a management trainee, has served in his current role since 2007. Currently, he leads seven supermarket divisions. His replacement will be named.

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.

New York -- Two U.S. banks have dropped their lawsuit against Target Corp. and its credit card security assessor, Trustwave Holdings Inc. The banks had accused Target and Trustwave of failing to properly secure customer data, leading to the retailer’s data breach during last year’s holiday season.

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.

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.