Brick
TSE:BRKThe Brick Ltd. (The Brick) is a retailer of household furniture, mattresses, appliances and home electronics, operating under four banners: The Brick, United Furniture Warehouse, The Brick Mattress Store, and Urban Brick. The Company has two operating segments: Retail and Financial Services. The Company operates retail stores concentrating on the sales of furniture, mattresses, appliances and electronics. Retail customers are offered credit though the Brick Card which is funded and billed by unrelated external service providers. The Financial Services segment is primarily engaged in providing extended warranty services on products sold to customers of The Brick and credit insurance on balances that arise from customers' use of their Brick Card. As at December 31, 2011, The Brick operated 232 retail store, including 60 franchise locations. The Brick owns 100% of the limited partnership units of The Brick Warehouse LP. In March 2013, Leon's Furniture Ltd acquired Brick Ltd.
GP Strategies
NYSE:GPXGP Strategies Corp. provides training, e-Learning solutions, management consulting and engineering services. It operates through the following Geographic Segments: North America, EMEA and Emerging Markets (Latin America and Asia Pacific countries). It provides Workforce Transformation Services into three primary solution sets: Organizational Performance Solutions (OPS), Technical Performance Solutions (TPS) and Automotive Performance Solutions (APS). The company was founded in 1959 and is headquartered in Columbia, MD.
(SHP)
NYSE:SHPShangPharma Corporation (ShangPharma) is a China-based holding company. The Company is a pharmaceutical and biotechnology research and development (R&D) outsourcing company. It provides a range of high-quality, integrated services across the drug discovery and development process to international and Chinese pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Its services consist of discovery chemistry, discovery biology and preclinical development, pharmaceutical development and biologics services. It has a diversified and loyal global customer base. In March 2013, the Company completed the merger contemplated by the previously announced Agreement and Plan of Merger (the Merger Agreement), by and among the Company, ShangPharma Holdings Limited (Holdings), ShangPharma Parent Limited (Parent) and ShangPharma Merger Sub Limited (Merger Sub). As a result of the merger, the Company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Parent.
Special Opportunities Fund
NYSE:SPESpecial Opportunities Fund, Inc. is a close-ended balanced fund of funds launched and managed by Bulldog Investors, LLC. It invests in close-ended funds investing in public equity and fixed income markets. The fund employs a combination of value, opportunistic and special situations strategies to make its investments. It benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the S&P 500 Index. The fund was previously known as Insured Municipal Income Fund, Inc. Special Opportunities Fund, Inc. was formed on February 18, 1993 and is domiciled in the United States.