MATTHEWS, NC—The board of Family Dollar StoresInc., which currently plans to merge with DollarTree Inc., has turned down Dollar GeneralCorp. a second time, rejecting the $80/share offer fromthe dollar-store sector's biggest player. The board's unanimousrejection of DG's Sept. 2 unsolicited bid cited the same basicconcern as its turndown of DG's initial $78.50/share last month:antitrust considerations. DG made both offersafter FDO and Chesapeake, VA-based DLTR announced plans tomerge.

Although Goodlettsville, TN-based DG offered to divest as manyas 1,500 locations in order to complete an FDO acquisition, theMatthews, NC retailer's board says that may not be enough. “Farmore than 1,500 Family Dollar stores are in zones where pricing isbased solely on the presence of local Dollar General stores, andthousands more are in zones where pricing is based on both DollarGeneral and Wal-Mart stores nearby,” according to a statement.

In all, some 6,000 Family Dollar locations are within threemiles of a Dollar General store. There's a “serious risk,” saysFDO, of the FTC taking the position that “Family Dollar's pricingpolicies would immediately lead to higher prices in thousands oflocations if Dollar General were no longer an independentcompetitor.”