Dollar Tree has completed its $9 billion acquisition of Family Dollar Stores after the discount retailers agreed to sell 330 Family Dollar stores to a private equity firm to settle antitrust charges.
Dollar Tree, which prevailed over rival Dollar General in a bidding war for Family Dollar, announced Monday that the deal had closed. The stores to be sold to Sycamore Partners are spread across 35 states where, according to the Federal Trade Commission, competition would have been lost if the acquisition had gone forward as originally proposed.
“Dollar stores offer convenience and value by providing a broad assortment of general merchandise at discounted prices in stores close to where consumers live or work,” Debbie Feinstein, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, said in a news release. “This settlement will ensure that consumers will continue to benefit from competition among their local dollar stores.”
Dollar Tree previously disclosed that the FTC had identified about 340 stores to be divested for the deal to go through.
According to Reuters, the deal gives the firm control of more than 13,000 stores across the U.S. and Canada, vaulting it ahead of Dollar General to become North America’s biggest discount retailer, with more than $18 billion in annual sales.
“This is a transformational opportunity for our business to offer broader, more compelling merchandise assortments, with greater values, to a wider array of customers,” Dollar Tree CEO Bob Sasser said Monday. “This acquisition will extend our reach to low-income customers, while strengthening and diversifying our footprint.”
Under the terms of the merger agreement, Family Dollar shareholders are entitled to receive $59.60 in cash and 0.2484 of a share of Dollar Tree common stock for each share of Family Dollar common stock. Dollar Tree shares closed up a fraction at $80.14 in trading Monday.