(UPDATED)
In what shouldn’t come as a surprise for those following the recent events related to the touted and long delayed $66 billion merger between diversified miner Xstrata (LON:XTA) and commodity trader giant Glencore International (LON:GLEN), the Swiss company’s shareholders have approved the deal.
Glencore shareholders had previously backed the merger and the company already owned 34% of Xstrata. The next largest shareholder, the sovereign wealth fund Qatar Holding, with a 12% stake in the diversified coal and copper miner, also voiced its support last week after drastically opposing the initial offer.
While the merger is a done deal, Xstrata’s shareholders rejected the controversial retention bonus plan for Xstrata’s executives by a resounding 78.4%.
Qatar Holding abstained from that vote, citing “the sensitivities concerning governance issues in the U.K.”
When the deal was announced in February, Glencore was offering 2.8 shares for every one of Xstrata; but, in September. Glencore’s CEO, Ivan Glasenberg, relented under pressure from Qatar and other major shareholders and upped the offer roughly to 3.05.
As part of the revised offer —the largest corporate deal of the year— Glasenberg, would lead the combined company and not current Xstrata CEO Mick Davis, who was earlier slated to lead a post-merger ‘Glenstrata’.
According to the latest merger documentation Qatar would own 8.4% of Glenstrata based on the current terms while Glasenberg’s stake in the combined entity would be just fewer than 8.3%.
Analysts quoted by FT.com believe the deal will close in early 2013, with consent from China’s Ministry of Commerce still pending.
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