Dollar General Proposes To Acquire Family Dollar Stores For $78.50/shr

(RTTNews) - Dollar General (DG) announced it has made a proposal to acquire Family Dollar Stores, Inc. (FDO) for $78.50 per share in cash, in a transaction valued at $9.7 billion. Dollar General said its all-cash proposal would provide Family Dollar shareholders with a substantially superior valuation to the $74.50 per share cash/stock offer announced by Dollar Tree, Inc. on July 28, 2014.

Dollar General announced that, Rick Dreiling, has agreed to postpone his previously-announced retirement and remain in the role of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the combined company until May 2016, if a merger agreement is signed, in order to oversee the successful integration of the two companies.

The company said the proposed transaction would be low double-digit accretive on a percentage basis to earnings in the first full year excluding implementation and transaction costs. Dollar General said the company is confident that it can quickly address any potential antitrust issues. Dollar General is prepared to commit to divest up to 700 retail stores in order to achieve the requisite approvals.