Shop Talk
Retailers, consumers and prices
Check Out Line: Name that brew
Check out: InBever-Busch? BudBever?
That hostile takeover stuff between InBev and Anheuser-Busch with the court fight and proxy battle and stuff? Looks like it was nothing a little more money can’t solve.
The two companies have begun friendly negotiations, a source told Reuters. The Wall Street Journal and New York Times reported that InBev has raised its offer by $5, to $70 a share, to try to cinch a friendly deal.
Some analysts have said that even $65 was something Anheuser-Busch shareholders would take. At $70, the discussions could be reduced more to things like what to call the company.
InBev is the buyer, so it could just keep its own name. A Busch runs the company, so they could get a nod if there is some sort of corporate name change, a la DaimlerChrysler, or Newell Rubbermaid.
Check Out Line: That was easy for Staples, eventually
Check out Staples, the successful hunter.
The NBA Finals are still going on at the arena that sports its name, but the office supply retailer is already a winner.
It took $2.65 billion, but Staples finally convinced Dutch office supplies wholesaler Corporate Express to accept a buyout offer.
Analysts see the deal as making strategic sense in the face of a slow U.S. economy, with big cost savings to be reaped.
Corporate Express gets about 50 percent of its revenue in the U.S. and activist investors had put pressure on the company due to poor performance in that market.
But Corporate Express tried to play defense, making its own deal to buy French rival Lyreco, a deal that now goes by the wayside at the cost of a 30 million euro break up fee.
Also in the basket:
Profits in hand, wealthy family cuts tobacco tie (N.Y. Times)
Squeezing big-box retailing into small city spaces (N.Y. Times)
(Photo: Staples.com)
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