Dollar General Corp. announced today that it is increasing its all-cash proposal for Family Dollar Stores Inc. to $80 per share from the $78.50-per-share offer last month and is increasing the number of stores it is willing to divest to obtain antitrust approval. The ratings on Dollar General, including the 'BBB-' corporate credit rating and 'BBB-' issue-level ratings on the company's senior unsecured debt, remain on CreditWatch with negative implications, where we placed them on Aug. 18, 2014. We expect to resolve the CreditWatch placement closer to the final outcome of this bidding process for Family Dollar, which announced a definitive merger agreement with Dollar Tree Inc. in July. NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Sept. 2, 2014--Standard&Poor's Ratings
