Family Dollar Pushes Dollar Tree Merger Vote to January

MATTHEWS, N.C. — Dollar store watchers will have to wait another month to find out if the top three will become the top two.

Family Dollar Stores Inc. was set to vote on a proposed $8.5-billion merger with Dollar Tree Inc. at a special meeting of stockholders on Dec. 23. However, citing lack of sufficient votes, the Family Dollar stockholders opted to adjourn the vote until Jan. 22.

The adjournment proposal was adopted by a vote of approximately 72 million shares to 15 million shares, according to Family Dollar. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC is serving as exclusive financial advisor to Family Dollar and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP is serving as legal counsel.

Matthews-based Family Dollar and Chesapeake, Va.-based Dollar Tree made headlines in late July with news of that Dollar Tree would acquire its discount store competitor for $74.50 per share. The deal is said to boost Dollar Tree's store count to more than 13,000 locations in the United States and Canada, as CSNews Online previously reported.

Within weeks, another competitor in the discount space, Goodlettsville, Tenn.-based Dollar General Corp., entered the mix with its own $9.7-billion bid to acquire Family Dollar.  After being turned down by Family Dollar, Dollar General upped its all-cash proposal for all outstanding shares of Family Dollar to $80 per share.

Dollar General continues its push to acquire its rival. It has extended its tender offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Family Dollar Stores for $80 per share in cash to Jan. 30. The tender offer was previously set to expire on Dec. 31.

Goldman, Sachs & Co. is acting as financial advisor to Dollar General. KKR Capital Markets and MCS Capital Markets are advising Dollar General on the financing. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is acting as its legal counsel.