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Odyssey Partners Limited Partnership, an investment firm, completed the purchase of May Department Stores Co. 's Caldor discount chain for $500 million plus the assumption of $52 million in debt. 

Caldor, based in Norwalk, Conn., operates 118 stores in the Northeast; it reported revenue of $1.6 billion last year.
May Stores, St. Louis, runs such well-known department stores as Lord & Taylor. 

