MONTREAL – Astral Media shareholders nearly unanimously approved the $3.5 billion planned takeover of the company by BCE Inc.
In a special meeting of shareholders held Thursday in Montreal, the deal was approved by 99.8% of the votes cast by holders of Class A non-voting shares, 99.9% of the votes cast by holders of Class B subordinate voting shares, and 100% of the votes cast by holders of special shares of Astral.
The acquisition, originally announced in March, remains subject to regulatory and court approvals. The Quebec Superior Court will examine the deal at a hearing scheduled for Friday.
“This enthusiastic support aptly reflects the value that the negotiated agreement represents for all Astral shareholders," said Astral president and CEO Ian Greenberg, in a statement. "I look forward to continuing to work in close collaboration with Bell’s team towards securing regulatory approvals for the transaction and its completion later in 2012."
Astral decided against having shareholders vote on a $25 million bonus for Greenberg citing a lack of support based on the proxies it had received prior to the meeting. Greenberg will relinquish his role, but will join the BCE board of directors following the closing of the transaction.
"This transaction greatly increases the French-language content available from Bell, and levels the competitive playing field with our major competitor in Québec media”, added BCE president and CEO George Cope. “We look forward to welcoming the seasoned and talented Astral team as Bell continues to drive broadband investment, innovation and competition in Québec and across Canada."
Montreal-based Astral operates 22 television services (including 13 French-language channels), radio stations in 50 markets, over 100 websites and digital media properties, and out-of-home advertising signage locations in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia.
