Family Dollar Shareholders Approve Dollar Tree Takeover

The battle over dollar stores is nearly over. Family Dollar shareholders voted on Thursday to approve a takeover bid by rival Dollar Tree, despite higher competing offers from Dollar General. The deal with Dollar Tree still needs to be approved by the Federal Trade Commission, but Family Dollar expects it to close by March. Dollar Tree first offered to buy Family Dollar in July for about $8.5 billion. Dollar General offered higher bids that were repeatedly rejected by Family Dollar who said it would be harder to get regulatory approval for the deal even though Dollar General was willing to sell as many as 1,500 stores. A combination of Family Dollar and Dollar Tree will create the largest dollar store company in the nation, with more than 13,000 stores. Dollar General has more than 11,000 stores. Shares of all three companies rose in midday trading Thursday. TheStreet's Scott Gamm reports from New York.