GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Dollar General upped its bid for the rival Family Dollar chain and addressed an earlier roadblock, saying that it will more than double the number of stores it would shed to tamp down the antitrust concerns of its takeover target.
The newest bid is worth $9.1 billion, or $80 per share, up from $78.50 per share in the previous offer.
Family Dollar, based in Matthews, North Carolina, rejected the earlier bid in favor of a lesser offer of $8.5 billion from Dollar Tree Inc., saying that regulators were less likely to stand in the way.
On Tuesday Dollar General, the country’s largest dollar-store chain, said it would divest as many as 1,500 stores, well above the 700 that it had originally agreed to, in order to sidestep any anti-monopoly actions that regulators might pursue.
The Goodlettsville, Tennessee company has also said it will pay a $500 million reverse break-up fee to Family Dollar Stores Inc. if the deal hits antitrust roadblocks.