Family Dollar rejects Dollar General offer

Family Dollar Stores on Friday rejected Dollar General's $9.1 billion sweetened takeover offer, saying the offer did not address antitrust concerns and was unlikely to be approved.

Dollar General raised its offer for Family Dollar Stores on Tuesday by 2 percent to $9.1 billion, or $80 per share, and said it was willing to sell up to 1,500 stores to address competition concerns.

Dollar General also warned it may take the offer directly to Family Dollar's shareholders if it was rejected.

'There is a very real and material risk that the transaction proposed by Dollar General would fail to close, after a lengthy and disruptive review process,” Family Dollar Chief Executive Howard Levine said in a statement on Friday.

Rebuffing Dollar General's offer, Family Dollar said it would stick with an $8.5 billion, or $74.50 per share, cash-and-stock offer from Dollar Tree Inc, a deal it said was more likely to close.

Under the agreement with Dollar Tree, Levine will remain CEO of Family Dollar if it was bought by Dollar Tree.

'I'm absolutely surprised by the whole thing,” Neev Capital's Rahul Sharma said, adding that Family Dollar's rejection could be a negotiating tactic to attract a higher breakup fee.

Dollar General's $500-million breakup fee is less than the agreed amount in some other situations where there are big regulatory risks to the deal, sources told Reuters.

Dollar Tree said on Friday it amended its merger agreement with Family Dollar to include a commitment to divest as many stores as necessary to clear antitrust hurdles. Dollar Tree had previously said it would divest up to 500 stores to clear competition concerns.

Family Dollar, the second-largest U.S. dollar store chain, said it expects the Federal Trade Commission to challenge a deal with Dollar General as it could lead to higher prices in areas where only the two are present.