Leonard Green: setting ground for retail M&A
By FashionUnited
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Jo-Ann
Sharply three months afterwards, J. Crew Group Inc. shareholders voted in favor of TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners LP’s takeover, capping Chief Executive Officer Millard Drexler’s months-long effort to take the apparel chain private. The company announced the results of the vote at a meeting last Tuesday March the 1st in New York. Looking back, 2010 turned out to be a pretty active year for retail M&A, with 14 UK deals worth more than £50m, of which seven were over £250m. Just a few days after its announcement regarding the buyout offer for Jo-Ann, Leonard Green & Partners showed its eagerness to acquire warehouse club operator BJ's Wholesale Club and, according to the New York Post, may attempt a hostile takeover if the company does not initiate an auction soon. In February, BJ’s Wholesale Club announced it had hired Morgan Stanley to explore a possible sale.
Family Dollar Stores appears to be the latest takeover target after announcing in February it had received a buyout offer worth almost $7.6 billion from investor Nelson Peltz's Trian Group, which had picked up a 6.6% stake in the discount chain last fall. Also Sears Holdings Corporation’s shares of Family Dollar are surging following an offer from Nelson Peltz's Trian fund of $55 to $60 a share. Family Dollar said it will review the proposal. The latest retailer to put itself on the block was teen apparel specialist Delia's (DLIA), which is reportedly doing the private-equity rounds, looking for a buyer after losing much of its cachet in recent years.