UST Shareholders Approve Acquisition By Altria - Update

Source from:  RTTNews 12/05/2008

(RTTNews) - Thursday, UST Inc. (UST: News ), said its shareholders have approved its acquisition by Altria Group Inc. (MO), the transaction of which is expected to close during the first full week of January 2009, no later than January 7. The deal between the two companies was initially announced in September, and came at a time when Altria was suffering from an accelerating decline in domestic cigarette sales. Following the shareholders' approval today, UST shareholders will receive $69.50 in cash for each share held of outstanding UST common stock. The total value of the buy out is around $11.7 billion that also includes the assumption of about $1.3 billion of debt. Upon closing of the deal, UST is to become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Altria. Murray Kessler, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, UST said, "We are pleased that an overwhelming majority of shareholders agreed with the Board that this transaction is clearly in the best interests of shareholders. With federal antitrust review and shareholder approval now secured, we look forward to closing the deal in early January." Shares of UST are currently trading at $68.89, up 0.32% or $0.22, on a volume of 1.3 million shares, while that of Altria are trading at $15.36, down 0.90% or $0.14, on a volume of 6.3 million shares, both on the New York Stock Exchange. Enditem