Dollar General raises Family Dollar bid to $80 a share
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Bloomberg
The battle for Family Dollar Stores Inc. escalated on Tuesday, as Dollar General Corp. raised its bid for the second-biggest U.S. dollar-retail chain to $80 a share and took steps to help allay antitrust concerns.
As part of the sweetened all-cash bid, up from a prior offer of $78.50 a share, Dollar General DG, +0.41% increased the number of stores it would be willing to divest itself of to 1,500 if ordered by federal antitrust regulators.
Dollar General also said it agreed to pay a $500 million reverse breakup fee to Family Dollar FDO, +0.49% if antitrust issues scuttle a deal. A representative for Family Dollar didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
“We are confident that our enhanced proposal sufficiently addresses any concerns that led Family Dollar’s board of directors to reject our prior proposal without any discussions between our companies,” said Dollar General Chief Executive Rick Dreiling, adding that the company will consider taking its latest proposal directly to Family Dollar shareholders depending on the board’s response.
Family Dollar rejected Dollar General’s roughly $9 billion takeover offer last month. Dollar General made its unsolicited bid after Family Dollar reached a deal to be acquired by Dollar Tree Inc. DLTR, +1.33% for $8.5 billion in cash and stock.
Family Dollar, in reaffirming its deal with No. 3 chain Dollar Tree, cited antitrust concerns when it rebuffed Dollar General’s approach. Dollar General, for its part, has said its antitrust analysis showed the deal could be completed.
