News

New York -- A Thursday report by the Financial Times said that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is in discussions with Turkish retailer Migros Ticaret AS to acquire an 80% stake in the company from London-based private equity group BC Partners.

The Times said that Walmart held meetings with Migros managers in recent days in Turkey but it had not placed a bid for the Turkish retailer. Sources have not been identified and Wal-Mart so far has not commented.

New York -- A Thursday report by the Minneapolis Star Tribune said that Best Buy Co. founder Richard Schulze is expected to make a fully financed offer of $5 billion to $6 billion by the end of the week to buy the retailer.     

The newspaper cited an unnamed source for the report.

The bid would fall below Schulze’s August offer of up to $10.9 billion including debt.

Best Buy has not yet commented publicly on the report.

NEW YORK — Chobani Greek Yogurt is the recipient of the 2012 North America Innovation in Leadership award for its groundbreaking contribution to the U.S. yogurt sector, presented by Rabobank.

Grace Simmons, VP of strategic initiatives for Chobani, accepted the award at the global bank’s recent Commodity, Corporate, and Trade Finance Forum.

New York -- Star Avenue Capital announced that it has acquired a minority ownership position in It’Sugar, Deerfield Beach, Fla., a growing specialty candy and gift chain. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Star Avenue is partnering with It’Sugar CEO and founder Jeff Rubin and existing investor Prentice Consumer Partners to provide the resources and strategic guidance to support the brand’s rapid expansion. The company currently has over 50 retail locations across 13 states and four international markets.

WAYNE, N.J. — With 12 shopping days left, Toys"R"Us plans to keep most of its stores open for 88 consecutive hours nationwide, from 6 a.m. Friday, December 21 through 10 p.m. Christmas Eve.

Purchase, N.Y. -- A SpendingPulse report released Wednesday by MasterCard Advisors in partnership with Wells Fargo found that spending at small retailers in November picked up a percentage point since October, showing a 5.2% year over year improvement.

This was enough to put its growth rate from October to November at 0.7%, more than the growth rate of total U.S. retail sales.

Promotional activity among the nation’s leading retailers declined during November aside from several notable exceptions. There was a flurry of intense promotional activity around Thanksgiving weekend, as always, but for the months as a whole the number of inserts distributed by retailers declined 7% and the number of pages declined by 5%.

BOSTON, Mass. — Former president and CEO of Vibram USA Tony Post has launched Topo Athletic, a new company and brand of athletic gear created by and for athletes that conforms to the human body.

Based in Newton, Mass., Post has launched the new company with $5 million in series A funding from Norwest Venture Partners, a multi-stage investment firm based in Silicon Valley.

In 2006, Post launched the Vibram FiveFingers brand in the United States, which catapulted Vibram USA and minimalist footwear into the limelight.