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Tue. Jun. 05, 2012 Talbots sued by investor over $369m Sycamore bid Talbots Inc., the women’s clothing retailer trying to reverse falling sales, was sued by an investor contending a $369 million buyout bid by private-equity firm Sycamore Partners is too low. Fred Schwartz alleges Talbots board members have a duty to get the best price and rejected a $3.05-a-share offer in May, according to papers filed yesterday in Delaware Chancery Court. The Talbots board agreed to a reduced $2.75-a-share offer “out of desperation at the end of a failed negotiation with Sycamore,” Schwartz’s attorneys said in the suit.	Advertisement
Jones Lang LaSalle is the leasing agent for Seaport Center Shorenstein Properties LLC, which recently completed its purchase of Seaport Center, said Tuesday that has hired Jones Lang LaSalle to be the exclusive leasing agent for the Boston office building. Built in 1909 as a wool warehouse, the nine-story building with roughly 460,000 square feet of space has been extensively updated, and it is located in a section of the city that Mayor Thomas M. Menino has dubbed “the Innovation District.” The Seaport Center is currently 94 percent leased.
Enterprise follows Hertz in hourly rentals Zipcar started Enterprise Holdings Inc., the largest US car-rental company, is making a move into hourly car rentals this year, joining No. 2 Hertz Global Holdings Inc. in going after the growing niche created by Zipcar Inc. of Cambridge. Enterprise last month acquired Mint Cars On-Demand, an hourly car-rental firm with locations in New York and Boston. It already owned two smaller brands and this year it plans to bring them all together as Enterprise Car Share.
Business confidence in Mass. drops a bit in May A statewide business confidence index posted a May reading of 56.8, down from April’s reading of 57.1, but 5.1 points above its reading in May 2011. The index is maintained by the Associated Industries of Massachusetts. “Once again, we see a small month-to-month decline that could turn out to be a brief stutter, a leveling off, or the start of a mid-year slump in confidence such as occurred in each of the past two years,” Raymond G. Torto, the chair of AIM’s Board of Economic Advisors, said in a statement.
Want to amp up your lobster roll? Infuse it with Samuel Adams Summer Ale Boston Beer Co., the maker and marketer of the Samuel Adams line-up, notes that its Summer Ale is the perfect infusion for the lobster roll. David Burke, an uber chef who knows a thing or two about infusions and drizzles, has created a special lobster roll recipe that makes use of Samuel Adams Summer Ale. According to Boston Beer, the ale’s crisp wheat character is a nice complement to sweet, buttery lobster.
Bullhorn report: Northeast is tops for social recruiting The Northeast is the liveliest region in the country for social recruiting, according to a report out Tuesday by Bullhorn Inc., a Boston recruitment software company. In its analysis of the activity of 77,500 recruiters, Bullhorn found that Maine had the highest percentage of jobs posted on sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. New Hampshire came in second, Massachusetts fifth, Connecticut seventh, and Rhode Island 10th.
Thomas H. Lee Partners to acquire majority stake in Party City Thomas H. Lee Partners L.P., a Boston-based private equity firm, announced Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire a majority stake in party supplies retailer Party City Holdings Inc. in a recapitalization transaction valued at $2.69 billion. Advent International Corp., Berkshire Partners LLC, Weston Presidio, and company management, which currently own Party City, will continue to hold significant minority stakes following the recapitalization.
Vermont Country Store CEO Bill Shouldice plans to leave at the end of the year The Vermont Country Store announced that president and chief executive Bill Shouldice has decided to leave the business at the end of 2012. With stores in Weston and Rockingham, Vt., the company is also a catalog and online retailer. The Vermont Country Store was founded 66 years ago by the Orton family, whose members describe themselves as “purveyors of the practical and hard to find.” The family said it is in the early stages of finding a successor to Shouldice.
Romney-backed solar company fails days after he faulted Solyndra Republican Mitt Romney, who criticized President Barack Obama last week for backing failed Solyndra LLC, supported as governor of Massachusetts a different solar-power company that has gone out of business. Konarka Technologies Inc. of Lowell filed to liquidate on June 1 after getting state and US aid, a development that may muddy his attempts to use Solyndra to try to show Obama’s broader economic failures, a professor said.
Filene’s Basement assets, including Running of the Brides, attracting bidders for auction Bankrupt Filene’s Basement and its parent company, Syms Corp., have attracted a number of bids for their intellectual properties -- including the Running of the Brides gown sale -- according to Hilco Streambank, which is charged with auctioning off the defunct retailers’ assets. The creditors committee and others involved in the bankruptcy process are reviewing the offers and an auction is tentatively scheduled for Thursday in New York. Jack Hazan, of Hilco Streambank, “a number of bids” have been received.
Mass. AG gets complaints from unpaid workers at Curt Schilling’s video game company Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office has received complaints from unpaid workers at Curt Schilling’s video game company trying to recoup their back pay, a spokesman has confirmed. The attorney general’s office said it plans to refer those people to the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training, which has already launched its own investigation into Schilling’s company, Providence-based 38 Studios. Rhode Island could try to obtain back pay for workers as well as seek additional penalties against the company.
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