Dollar Tree

Matthews, N.C. — Family Dollar Stores on Friday rejected the sweetened, $9.1 billion take-over bid made by Dollar General on Sept.

Dollar Tree and Family Dollar have amended their merger agreement to include a commitment by Dollar Tree to divest as many stores as necessary or advisable to obtain antitrust clearance for the previously announced cash and stock transaction.

All other terms and conditions of the merger agreement remain the same as announced on July 28, 2014. The two companies also said that their expectations for a closing date for the transaction have accelerated to as early as the end of November 2014.

Goodlettsville, Tenn. -- The battle for Family Dollar moved into higher gear on Tuesday with Dollar General raising its bid for Family Dollar to $9.1 billion, or $80 per share, up from $78.50 per share in its previous offer. Dollar General also warned that it would attempt a hostile bid if Family Dollar refused to enter into talks regarding the new offer.

The Family Dollar board is under new pressure to walk away from a deal with Dollar Tree after Dollar General further increased an already more generous counter offer.

Early Monday Dollar General increased its all cash offer to $80 a share from $78.50 a share and increased the number of stores it said it would be willing to divest to 1,500 from 700. The company also said it would be willing to pay Family Dollar a $500 million reverse break-up if the deal failed to secure antitrust clearance.

Dollar General made the case for the superiority of its Family Dollar takeover bid with the release of second quarter results that revealed consistency as well some deceleration in sales and profit growth.

Goodlettsville, Tenn. -- Dollar General Corp. on Thursday reported earnings of $251.3 million for the second quarter, in line with expectations, even as its sales decelerated. The company also said it still wants to buy Family Dollar Stores, even though the rival discounter rejected Dollar General’s bid of its $8.95 billion offer last week.

New York -- Dollar Tree Inc. reported that net income in the second quarter dipped 2.6% to $121.5 million, from $124.7 million a year earlier, amid higher freight costs and investments in higher-value products.

Revenue rose 9.5% to $2.03 billion, and same-store sales increased 4.5%, beating Wall Street estimates of a 2.5% rise. It was the chain’s26th consecutive quarter of positive comparable store sales growth.

New York -- Family Dollar said it favors a smaller deal with potential buyer Dollar Tree, and firmly rejected an offer for takeover by larger competitor Dollar General.

Following an $8.5 billion offer last week by Dollar Tree, Dollar General offered a $9 billion, all-cash deal.