Consumer Company Shares Up Amid Mall-Merger Reports - Consumer Roundup

Shares of retailers and other consumer companies rose amid deal activity. Westfield, the Australian operator of malls that include one at New York's World Trade Center, agreed to a $15.7 billion takeover offer from European shopping-center giant Unibail-Rodamco, bringing together two of the world's largest mall operators at a time when online shopping is threatening mall culture. Analysts at one brokerage noted that some designers are bristling at Amazon.com's willingness to sell lookalike products. "Birkenstock noted it recently pulled its products from Amazon in Europe (after pulling it in the U.S. in January) noting that the ecommerce giant failed to prevent counterfeit products on the website," said analysts at brokerage Nomura Securities, in a research note. Brands such as Nike and North Face are already working with Amazon to stamp out such practices, according to Nomura.

-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 12, 2017 16:18 ET (21:18 GMT)