Dollar General says it still wants to buy Family Dollar after its offer was rejected

Dollar General Corp. said it still wants to buy rival Family Dollar, even though its nearly $9 billion offer was rejected by the discount retailer rejected last week.

"We remain firmly committed to the acquisition," Dollar General CEO Rick Dreiling said in a statement on Thursday.

Last week, Family Dollar rejected Dollar General's $8.95 billion offer in favor of a slightly smaller one from rival Dollar Tree Inc. for about $8.5 billion. Family Dollar said a deal with Dollar General, the nation's largest dollar-store chain, would be too hard to get approved by antitrust regulators.

Dreiling said Thursday that the acquisition could gain approval.

"We continue to believe the potential antitrust issues are manageable and that our transaction as proposed is both superior and achievable," Dreiling said in a statement.

Family Dollar and Dollar Tree did not respond to a request for comment.

Dollar General also said Thursday that its second-quarter revenue rose 7.5 percent from a year ago to $4.72 billion, thanks to higher cigarette, food and candy sales at its stores.

On a per-share basis, the company said it had net income of 83 cents per share, meeting Wall Street expectations.

Dollar General, which is based in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, has more than 11,500 stores around the country. A combination of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Dollar General and Chesapeake, Virginia-based Family Dollar would create a chain with almost 20,000 stores.