Dollar General Corp. sweetened its bid for Family Dollar Stores Inc. on Tuesday and offered to divest up to 1,500 stores to satisfy antitrust regulators. 

The latest offer was sent to directors at Matthews, N.C.-based Family Dollar, who earlier indicated a preference for an alternative, albeit lower, bid from Dollar Tree Stores Inc. on the grounds that it is more likely to win approval from the Federal Trade Commission.
 

GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. — Dollar General Corp. sweetened its bid for Family Dollar Stores Inc. on Tuesday and offered to divest up to 1,500 stores to satisfy antitrust regulators.

Dollar General Corp. sweetened its bid for Family Dollar Stores Inc. on Tuesday and offered to divest up to 1,500 stores to satisfy antitrust regulators.

The latest offer was sent to directors at Matthews, N.C.-based Family Dollar, who earlier indicated a preference for an alternative, albeit lower, bid from Dollar Tree Stores Inc. on the grounds that it is more likely to win approval from the Federal Trade Commission.

To counter such concerns, Dollar General has more than doubled the number of stores it is offering to sell. The company also raised its bid to $80 a share, from the $78.50 a share it offered on August 18.

"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 the companies," said Rick Dreiling, Dollar General’s chairman and chief executive officer.

Family Dollar acknowledged receipt of what it characterized as "a revised, nonbinding, unsolicited proposal from Dollar General" and said its board would huddle with the company’s legal and financial advisers to weigh the new offer.

A merger between Family Dollar and Dollar Tree would combine the No. 2 and No. 3 competitors in the industry.