(Reuters) - Investor Nelson Peltz's Trian Fund Management LP slashed its stake in Family Dollar Stores Inc (>> Family Dollar Stores, Inc.) by more than two-thirds to 2.07 percent, days after the company's shareholders agreed to Dollar Tree Inc's (>> Dollar Tree, Inc.) $8.5 billion buyout offer.
Trian Management sold about 6 million shares of Family Dollar for a total of about $456.5 million, the hedge fund said in a regulatory filing. (http://1.usa.gov/1EolGvx)
Trian was Family Dollar's second-largest shareholder before the sale. He owned nearly 8.4 million shares in the company, according to Jan. 22 filing.
Trian Chief Investment Officer Edward Garden has been a member of Family Dollar's board since 2011, after Peltz withdrew an offer to buy the discount retailer.
Garden also served on a committee of four directors that oversaw Family Dollar's review of strategic alternatives including the Dollar Tree deal.
Family Dollar's shareholders approved Dollar Tree's cash-and-stock offer last week, scuppering a higher hostile offer from larger rival Dollar General Corp (>> Dollar General Corp.).
Trian did not provide a reason for the sale of its stake.
Activist investor Carl Icahn who once was Family Dollar's largest shareholder, sold his entire stake in September, last year, indicating that he did not expect a higher bid for the company.
Shares of Family Dollar closed at $76.36 on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday.
(Reporting By Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
