Imperial a Step Closer to Acquiring Altadis

Source from:  tr.itsmyiq.com Dec 18, 2007 12/19/2007

Altadis' shareholders today satisfied a condition of the company's acquisition by the Imperial Tobacco Group by approving the removal of a voting restriction. In a note posted on its website, Altadis said that an extraordinary shareholders' meeting in Madrid today had approved, by a majority vote, a proposal to modify the company's bylaws by removing the limit of the votes that each Altadis shareholder could place during a general meeting. The proposal had already been backed by the board of directors. In a note posted on its website, Imperial said that the removal of the voting restriction had satisfied a condition of its cash offer of €50 per Altadis share for the entire issued share capital of Altadis. The offer was now conditional only upon 80 per cent of the share capital of Altadis being tendered in acceptance of the offer, it added. The acceptance period for the offer is expected to close on January 11. Enditem