Dive Brief:
- Dollar General said Friday it was committed to its latest offer of $9.1 billion for Family Dollar despite its rival’s second rejection to a merger and has said it could take the offer directly to shareholders.
- Observers say that Dollar General must further ease Family Dollar’s antitrust concerns even ahead of increasing its cash offer further.
- That is exactly what Dollar Tree Inc. did Friday, saying it would sell as many stores as antitrust regulators might deem necessary for its own $8.5 billion deal to go through.
Dive Insight:
Antitrust fears are emerging as a very real concern on the part of Family Dollar’s board, which unanimously rejected Dollar General’s sweetened offer Friday. Dollar General has made noises about taking its offer directly to shareholders, who might prefer the higher dollar bid. But observers say that antitrust concerns could scuttle any deal, no matter how sweet, after what could be a long and damaging process.
Although Dollar General, in an attempt to ease such concerns, doubled the number of stores it was willing to close in its latest offer, observers say it must provide more blanket assurances — something Dollar Tree provided Friday — that it would do whatever it takes to avoid a challenge from the Federal Trade Commission.