Mergers & Acquisitions

Sycamore Partners, a private-equity firm that focuses on retail investments, said it's interested in acquiring the struggling clothing chain Express after amassing a 9.9 percent stake in the company. In a letter to Express’ board, Sycamore said it would like to perform due diligence to determine a price for the retailer. The investment firm said it would submit a bid within 30 days of getting access to Express’ books. Shares of the clothing chain, which had a $1.14 billion valuation at the close of trading today, surged as much as 33 percent after hours.

According to the Financial Times, TOMS is being put up for sale, and could fetch as much as $600 million. The Los Angeles-based ethical label has donated over 10 million pairs of shoes to children in need over the course of eight years in business. TOMS is best known for its canvas shoes, but has expanded in

Private equity firm Sycamore Partners announced Monday that it bought the going-out-of-business Coldwater Creek brand and other intellectual property through an affiliate company during the apparel chain's bankruptcy proceedings. Sycamore said it plans to relaunch Coldwater Creek as an independent portfolio company, but it didn't give a timeline for the launch. Terms of the acquisition weren't disclosed. "Coldwater Creek is an outstanding brand with a 30-year heritage and strong support from its loyal base of longtime customers," said Peter Morrow, a managing director of Sycamore Partners.

Family Dollar has adopted a "poison pill" that could repel any potential hostile takeover attempt by activist investor Carl Icahn. But some analysts say a sale, merger or executive shakeup at the company looks increasingly likely. Icahn said Friday that he has bought 9.4 percent of the company. That means that more than 22 percent of the company's shares are controlled by activist investors, including John Paulson's hedge fund and Nelson Peltz, who tried to buy the company in 2011. 

Vitamin Shoppe Inc., a multichannel specialty retailer of nutritional products, announced Monday that it's purchased FDC Vitamins LLC for approximately $85 million. According to the announcement, FDC Vitamins does business as Nutri-Force Nutrition, a contract manufacturer of vitamins, minerals and supplements. Commenting on the transaction, Tony Truesdale, Vitamin Shoppe CEO said in a statement, "I'm very pleased to announce plans to expand our sourcing capabilities with the strategic acquisition of Nutri-Force."

Genesco's LIDS Sports Group, a merchandiser of sports-related headgear and novelties, has purchased Dayton, Ohio-based Cardboard Heroes, which has 19 retail locations in Ohio and Kentucky. Those include four Buckeye Room stores that sell Ohio State University sports merchandise. The purchase also includes the websites cheroes.com and buckeyeroom.com, where the same goods are available online. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed. LIDS Sports Group, based in Indianapolis, already had 936 headwear specialty retail stores, 151 sports fan retail stores and 57 team-specific professional sports and university athletics retail stores in North America.

"Fireman Sam," a cartoon aimed at preschoolers, has long been a hit overseas. Now Mattel and Amazon.com are teaming up to sell the yellow-hatted hero to American children — a potentially controversial experiment that, if successful, could create a new model for marrying television shows with related merchandise. Amazon and Hit Entertainment, a division of Mattel, are creating an Amazon.com "content hub" that will, side by side, offer episodes of "Fireman Sam" and the opportunity to buy related toys, books, games, costumes, lunchboxes, T-shirts, hoses, hats, bags, footwear and bikes. 

Abercrombie & Fitch has offered to pay $96,000 to 13 assistant managers for failing to pay proper overtime wages, in connection with a lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of New York. This is in addition to prior offers from Abercrombie & Fitch to pay other assistant managers who had joined the lawsuit. Abercrombie also agreed to pay the assistant managers’ attorney's fees and court costs. The claims arose under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and asserted that Abercrombie violated the FLSA by failing to pay assistant managers all wages due for working more than 40 hours a week.

Apple, the company that turned digital music into a mainstream phenomenon, said on Wednesday that it was buying Beats Electronics, a rising music brand, for $3 billion, in a move that will help it play catch-up with rivals that offer subscription-based music services. Apple and Beats executives said the companies would work together to give consumers around the world more options to listen to music. The Beats brand will remain separate from Apple's, and Apple will offer both Beats’ streaming music service and premium headphones.

Signet's $1.4 billion acquisition of the Zale Corporation looks increasingly beleaguered in the wake of opposition by the investment group TIG Advisors, Zale's second-largest shareholder. Opposing a takeover as being underpriced is nothing new. But what's surprising is that Zale's financial adviser, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, has given an unexpected assist to the deal's opponents by failing to disclose to Zale's board a potential conflict of interest. In February, Signet Jewelers, which owns the Kay and Jared jewelry-store chains, announced that it had reached a deal to buy Zale for $21 a share, or $1.4 billion.