M&A Pro Checks into Albertson’s and out of Federated

One-time acquisition-hungry supermarket behemoth Albertson’s Inc. has bagged an M&A veteran with 22 years experience at Federated Department Stores Inc. John Sims joins $13 billion market cap Albertson’s today as executive VP and general counsel. At $8.4 billion market cap Federated, operator of Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s, among other chains, Sims worked most recently as deputy general counsel and VP. His responsibilities at New York-based Federated included M&A, which did not always turn out well for the department store company. One of Federated’s largest deals-its $1.7 billion cash takeout of Fingerhut Cos. in January 1999-ended up with Federated announcing two months ago its intent to dispose of the Fingerhut catalog assets. In connection with that action, Federated planned to take a one-time $1 billion charge.