Tuesday December 18, 05:32 PM
Altadis shareholders remove barrier to Imperial takeover
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MADRID (AFP) - Altadis (Madrid: ALT.MC - news) shareholders scrapped Tuesday a rule limiting any single shareholder's voting rights to 10 percent, a requirement of Imperial Tobacco (LSE: IMT.L - news) 's 12.8-billion-euro (18.4-billion-dollar) takeover bid for the Franco-Spanish cigarette maker.
The measure was approved by 89.2 percent of the shareholders present or represented at an extraordinary meeting held in Madrid, Altadis said in a statement. The proposal already had the backing of Altadis' board of directors.
In July Britain-based Imperial Tobacco offered 50 euros per share of Altadis, the maker of Montecristo cigars and Gauloises cigarettes.
The acceptance period for the offer began on November (Frankfurt: A0S9N7 - news) 12 and was expected to close on January 11.
Altadis accepted Imperial Tobacco's bid after previously rejecting two other bids at 45 and 47 euros per share.
"The company's share price has increased from 14.20 euros per share at the end of the year to the 50 euros per share offered by Imperial Tobacco, with an average annual appreciation of more than 17 percent," the statement quotes Altadis' chief executive officer, Antonio Vazquez, as saying at the meeting.
In buying Altadis, Imperial Tobacco would become the fourth biggest tobacco company in the world, after Altria (Philip Morris), BAT and Japan Tobacco (Berlin: JAT.BE - news) .
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