How to Turn 99 Cents into $1.6 Billion (BLOG)

Ninety-nine-cent-only stores are willing to sell everything for under a dollar, well, except themselves--that goes for much more. The Los Angeles Times reports that, "99 Cents Only Stores Inc." a chain of discount stores, "has agreed to be taken private in a deal valued at about $1.6 billion...after months of talks with several groups interested in buying the company." Private equity firm Ares Management and the Canada Pension Plan Investment board orchestrated the private deal for $22 a share in cash, which is "32% higher than the stock's close on March 10, the day before it announced that it had received a $1.3-billion buyout proposal" from a Los Angeles investment firm, the LA Times reports. The chain has 289 stores in four states--California, Texas, Arizona and Nevada--and "more than half of 99 Cents Only's sales come from food and beverages," reports the Los Angeles Times. Cheap stuff, we imagine, make up the rest of its sale