By Nadia Damouni
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has sold his entire stake in Family Dollar Stores Inc, making a profit of about $200 million on the investment, according to sources familiar with the matter on Wednesday.
Dollar Tree Inc agreed in July to buy Family Dollar for $8.5 billion. Since then, however, the deep-discount retailer has drawn competing interest from Dollar General Corp, which has bid $9.1 billion for its smaller rival.
Icahn became Family Dollar's largest shareholder in June, when he disclosed a 9.4 percent stake in the struggling retailer and pushed the company to sell itself.
At the end of July, Icahn disclosed he had reduced his position to 3.61 percent.
It was not clear when Icahn sold the remaining stake. But his decision could indicate he did not expect a tussle for Family Dollar between its two suitors to lead to a substantial increase in the deal price. His decision also reduces some activist pressure on Family Dollar.
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Family Dollar's shares added 0.1 percent at $80.29. Dollar General has offered $80 per share for the company, while Dollar Tree has a deal to buy Family Dollar for $74.50 per share.
(Editing by Paritosh Bansal, Meredith Mazzilli and Jeffrey Benkoe)