Family Dollar Stores, Inc. (NYSE:FDO) has been at the center of a love triangle involving the two other major dollar discount chains, and now, Carl Icahn has apparently had enough. Or at any rate, he thinks he’s made as much of a profit as is possible to make. Reuters reports that according to its sources, the activist investors has unloaded all of his stake in the retail chain—raking in approximately $200 million in profits in the process.
Family Dollar seeks a suitor
In July, Dollar Tree, Inc. (NYSE:DLTR) and Family Dollar announced an agreement to merge. Icahn called that a win, although he had been pushing for Family Dollar to be bought out by Dollar General Corp. (NYSE:DG). Later it was revealed that Dollar General had been interested in Family Dollar previously, so it entered a competing bid for the retail chain. Dollar Tree’s bid is $8.5 billion, while Dollar General bid $9.1 billion.
Icahn became Family Dollar’s largest shareholder in June with the goal of pushing the company to put itself up for sale. He built his stake up to 9.4%, but then last month, the activist investor disclosed that he had cut his stake to 3.61%.
It’s unclear why Icahn dumped the rest of his stake in Family Dollar. Reuters speculates that the decision might mean that he does not expect a significant increase in the company’s share price as a result of the bidding war between Dollar Tree and Dollar General.
What will happen to Family Dollar?
This week Dollar General raised its bid for Family Dollar to $80 per share in cash and agreed to either shut down or sell up to 1,500 stores in order to get the approval of regulators. The new bid is worth almost $10 billion. Some analysts think this is a done deal, reports The Tennessean.
However, they think the takeover might have to go hostile in order for it to happen, as Family Dollar management seems to be set on a deal with Dollar Tree—even though Dollar General will pay more. Family Dollar’s board of directors rejected Dollar General’s previous bid even though it was higher, citing regulatory concerns.
On Tuesday, Family Dollar said its board would consider the higher bid, although it had not changed its recommendation to go with the Dollar Tree offer.
