Financial/Banking

New York -- Ollie’s Bargain Outlet raised $143 million in a wildly successful initial public stock offering that positions the company for steady expansion of its 181 unit store base beyond core markets.

Ollie’s co-founder and CEO Mark Butler told Retailing Today that although the company has identified 950 suitable store locations, proceeds from the IPO will be used to repay debt and the company will maintain a measured pace of expansion.

Munich, Germany – There is more news in the fast-growing digital wallet sector.

MasterCard and payment gateway solution provider Pay.On are partnering to make the MasterPass digital wallet application available to more than 110 payment service providers (PSPs) via Pay.On’s white label global payment gateway. MasterPass is now available to more than 56,000 Web shops worldwide that route payments through Pay.On’s partners.

San Jose, Calif. – PayPal Holdings Inc. is still not officially an independent company, but is getting some serious respect from the investment world.

Once PayPal splits from parent company eBay and starts trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market under “PYPL” (expected July 17), it will be listed on several prominent stock indices.

Houston – Mattress Firm Inc. is giving its customers credit.

With Amazon.com’s share price approaching $500 on the heels of a highly publicized 20th anniversary promotional event, the struggling Books-A-Million chain announced a deal to go private for a paltry sum.

The Books-A-Million chain was always a distant competitor to the likes of Barnes & Noble and even the now defunct Borders chain. Then along came Amazon.com and Books-A-Million grew more irrelevant. As its sales and profits declined so did its growth prospects in the eyes of investors and its stock price.

Menomonee Falls, Wis. - Kohl’s Corp. has increased the maximum amount of a previously announced cash tender offer for several debt notes coming due between 2017 and 2033 from $60 million to about $737.04 million. The new tender offer is subject to the same terms and conditions made in an original offer to purchase dated June 29, 2015.

Settlement of notes that have been tendered and accepted for purchase by Kohl’s is expected to take place July 17, 2015. The tender offer expires July 27, 2015.
 

Birmingham, Ala. -- In a deal that may take it private again, Books-A-Million Inc. has given its OK to a buyout deal from the family of its original owners.

The chain reached an agreement to be acquired by a newly organized entity owned by the Anderson Family, which includes Books-A-Million executive chairman Clyde B. Anderson, for $21 million, or $3.25 a share in cash. (According to the most recent SEC filing, the Anderson family already owns 58.2% of the company).

New York – Barnes & Noble Inc. will officially spin off its education unit on Aug. 2, 2015. Barnes & Noble shareholders will receive 0.632 shares of Barnes & Noble Education stock for each share of Barnes & Noble stock they hold as of July 27, 2015.

Barnes & Noble Education will function as a separate public company and trade under the symbol BNED on the New York Stock Exchange. Barnes & Noble will continue trading on the NYSE under the symbol BKS.