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H.J. Heinz Co. shareholders approve $28 billion deal with Berkshire Hathaway, 3G CapitalApril 30, 2013 8:59 am By Teresa F. Lindeman / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette NEW YORK -- The H.J. Heinz Co. shareholders have approved a deal that gives them a premium on their shares in the historic Pittsburgh company, voting overwhelmingly to approve a $28 billion cash-and-debt sale of the business.The vote in favor of the sale was announced this morning in New York City at a special shareholders meeting held at the law offices of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP. The meeting lasted seven minutes and a handful of shareholders attended.There were more than 192 million votes in favor of the acquisition, or 95 percent of the votes submitted, according to Heinz.Voting for the sale means investors are accepting an offer of $72.50 for each of their shares, which had been valued at $60.48 the day before the deal was announced in February. The would-be acquirers initially offered to pay $70 for before being convinced to pay more.3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway are partners in a joint venture that worked out a deal with the Heinz board in February to buy the global maker of ketchup, beans, frozen foods and infant food.Heinz chairman, president and CEO Bill Johnson said the deal remains on track to close late in the second or early in the third quarter.The shareholder vote is not the last hurdle to the sale, but it is close.Regulators in certain international markets are still reviewing the plan. In particular, Europe and China are seen as the likely last to weigh in, given the structure of their review processes.Until late Monday, it looked as though lawsuits filed by some shareholders might force a delay of the meeting. But with a favorable ruling from the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, the company was able to move ahead with its plans.Other lawsuits had been dropped in the weeks prior to Monday's hearing.Although some investors weren't convinced that the Heinz board had done a good job in negotiating the deal, three shareholder advisory firms had looked over the plans and recommended that shareholders vote for it.Although one of those firms, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc., recommended against giving shareholder support to golden parachutes that it felt were too generous to some Heinz executives, even ISS found the overall deal worth approving.Heinz did not have a result on the vote on the executive pay package. The voting is close.
This deal should provide Teresa Heinz Kerry with all the gin she ever hoped to drink. ^-^
