Shareholders of Swiss cement giant Holcim Ltd. approved the issuance of new shares to pay for Holcim’s $47 billion union with France’s Lafarge SA, reports The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
According to WSJ, roughly 94 percent of Holcim’s shareholders voted in favor of the issuance of up to 264 million Holcim shares, setting up an offer that will begin in early June. Lafarge stockholders will get nine Holcim shares for every 10 Lafarge shares they tender.
“The process is virtually complete now,” says Phil Roseberg, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Roseberg said it was unlikely Lafarge shareholders would fail to tender the two thirds of the company’s stock needed to complete the deal.
In addition, Holcim’s second largest shareholder, Eurocement Holding AG, said they would back the deal. Holcim’s largest shareholder, Thomas Schmidheiny, also announced his support of the deal.
Earlier this year, after some conflicts over leadership, the two companies agreed on longtime Lafarge executive Eric Olsen to lead the new company. The companies expect the deal to close by the end of July, reports WSJ.
