Mergers & Acquisitions

Men's Wearhouse rejected an unsolicited $2.3 billion takeover bid by Jos. A. Bank Clothiers on Wednesday, calling the proposed deal "highly opportunistic" and likely to draw antitrust scrutiny. Jos. A. Bank proposed paying $48 a share in cash for Men's Wearhouse, 36 percent above its closing stock price on Tuesday. But the Men's Wearhouse board said the bid undervalued the company and wasn't in the best interests of shareholders.

Staples bought e-commerce software startup Runa, looking to use the San Mateo, Calif., company's offerings to personalize its online store. "With Runa, we're adding technology to better serve our customers with personalized items, offers and delivery estimates, all in real time," said Staples Chief Executive Ronald Sargent. "Runa will allow us to tap into the wealth of engineering and e-commerce expertise in the Silicon Valley area."

The owners of the Neiman Marcus chain are near a deal to sell the luxury retailer to a group led by Ares Management and a Canadian pension plan for about $6 billion, a person briefed on the matter said on Sunday. A deal between the Ares-led group and Neiman's primary owners, Warburg Pincus and TPG Capital, could be announced as soon as this week, this person added, cautioning that talks are ongoing and could still fall apart.

Jarden Corp, known for its Mr. Coffee products, agreed to buy candle maker Yankee Candle Co Inc. for $1.75 billion after private equity owner Madison Dearborn Partners failed to sell for a higher price earlier this year. The acquisition of Yankee Candle, the largest scented candle company in the United States, will bolster Jarden's branded consumables division.

Online retailers JustFab and ShoeDazzle are making a bigger-is-better play and merging in an effort to grow faster, the companies said Wednesday. "Ecommerce is all about that mass scale," said Adam Goldenberg, currently co-chief executive of JustFab. "Having that scale allows us to work with the very best factories." The combined companies should have revenue of over $400 million next year, said ShoeDazzle Chief Executive Brian Lee, and become profitable on an operating basis. ShoeDazzle focuses mainly shoes, whereas JustFab sells a broader range including shoes, accessories and apparel.

Toys“R”Us on Wednesday unveiled its global growth for 2013, with the planned opening of more than 100 stores, including new locations, the relocation and conversion of 14 stores to its side-by-side format, and 22 new licensed stores. The openings represent the net addition of over 900,000 square feet of retail space to the company’s store portfolio. Toys“R”Us’ most significant expansion plans for 2013 are in China, where it's already begun operating several of 22 new stores scheduled to open this year. By year-end, the company plans to operate 51 stores in 27 cities throughout China.

Troubled department store J.C. Penney saw its stock continue to drop on Wednesday after its announcement on Monday of a new marketing chief. Penney's stock was down another 48 cents, or 3.6 percent, to close Wednesday at $12.80. That came on top of a loss of 54 cents on Tuesday. The last shares closed that low was in 2001. The company will post its latest earnings report on Aug. 20. Penney's has been reeling since former CEO Ron Johnson's strategy to

The Washington Post agreed Monday to sell its flagship newspaper to Amazon.com founder and chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos, ending the Graham family's stewardship of one of America's leading news organizations after four generations. Bezos, whose entrepreneurship has made him one of the world's richest men, will pay $250 million in cash for The Post and affiliated publications to The Washington Post Co., which owns the newspaper and other businesses.

This morning in Mindblowing Acquisitions, American Apparel-legendary for their provocative ads, womanizing owner, and financial trouble-has scooped up Indie 38 member Oak. While the purchase is completely confusing at first glance, diving deeper into both retailers' businesses does reveal some interesting benefits on both side of the fence. After the jump, we've broken down why this is good for both Oak and American Apparel.

Discount retailer ALCO Stores has entered into an agreement to merge with private investment firm Argonne Capital Group LLC. ALCO said in a news release Thursday that Atlanta-based Argonne will acquire all the outstanding share of ALCO Stores’ common stock for $14 per share in cash. The proposed transaction would total about $47 million. ALCO's board of directors has unanimously approved the merger agreement and is recommending that shareholders approve it.