After Family Dollar Stores announced a plan to sell itself to Dollar Tree Inc. for $8.5 billion, the billionaire Carl C. Icahn publicly held out hope that someone else would come in and make a higher offer.
In the meantime, the activist shareholder appears happy to take some of his investment gains off the table.
Mr. Icahn disclosed in a regulatory filing on Tuesday that he cut his stake in the deep-discount retailer over the past two days to 6 percent, down from nearly 9.4 percent.
The move follows a surprisingly quick — and significant — paper profit on the investment. Mr. Icahn paid an average of $58.20 a share for his position, which he began amassing in April. According to the regulatory filing, he sold shares at an average of $75.50 each — even above the $74.50 a share that Dollar Tree has offered.
In his statement on Monday, the billionaire said:
“While we continue to believe there are a handful of potential buyers who could realize greater synergies through a combination with Family Dollar and are hopeful that one or more of them will surface as a result of today’s announcement, we are extremely pleased with Dollar Tree’s intention to acquire Family Dollar.
It’s not clear whether any such suitors may emerge. Dollar General, the leader in the dollar discount industry, has been considered a potential bidder, though it’s unclear whether it will feel moved to make an offer for its smaller, worse-performing competitor.
Mr. Icahn was not immediately available for comment.