Dive Brief:
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Private equity firm Sycamore Partners will acquire 330 Dollar Tree stores — $45.5 million of the discount retail chain’s operating income — and re-brand them as “Dollar Express” stores.
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Dollar Tree is required by the Federal Trade Commission to unload the stores to address antitrust concerns from its pending merger with Family Dollar.
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The deal is contingent upon the close of the merger. No terms were available.
Dive Insight:
The Dollar Tree, even back when a merger with Family Dollar was just talk, always said the number of stores closing would be in this range. That’s in stark contrast to the shifting and noncommittal comments from third rival Dollar General, which offered bids and counter bids for Family Dollar and whose former CEO bristled when Family Dollar’s CEO expressed wariness over anti-trust issues that could scuttle any deal.
Philadelphia-based Dollar Express is yet another discount store that Dollar Tree had acquired 15 years ago. Once complete, the Dollar Tree-Family Dollar merger will create the largest “dollar” store chain, with some 13,000 stores nationwide.
