Family Dollar said on Thursday that it has rejected a takeover bid from rival Dollar General, citing antitrust concerns. However, the company will move ahead with the $8.5 million merger with Dollar Tree that was announced last month.
In a statement, Family Dollar said that Dollar General failed to address its board’s concerns that the merger would be negated over antitrust regulations. According to The New York Times, Family Dollar also made it clear that it did not reject the bid because of CEO Howard Levine’s concern that he would be kicked out of the company, as Dollar General had suggested.
Dollar General would have taken over Family Dollar for $8.9 billion. That’s more than the $8.5 billion that Dollar Tree agreed to pay in July. Family Dollar added that its board again unanimously supported that deal.
According to Businessweek, Dollar General said it was still interested in Family Dollar.
“We are confident that we will be able to quickly and efficiently resolve any potential antitrust issues,” Dollar General CEO Rick Dreiling said in a letter. “We believe that the number of store divestitures contained in our offer letter is more than sufficient to take this issue completely off the table.”