The Boards of international depository Euroclear and UK settlement agency CRESTCo have announced overwhelming shareholder support for the proposed merger of the two companies by way of a scheme of arrangement.
The merger was approved by CRESTCo shareholders at a meeting convened by the UK High Court held on 16 August 2002. CRESTCo shareholders also voted in favour of the resolution to approve and implement the scheme of arrangement at the subsequent Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM).
More than 95% of CRESTCo shareholders, representing 98.75% of the shares, supported the merger. The scheme of arrangement must also be sanctioned by the High Court where a Hearing has been scheduled for 19 September.
A. Chris Tupker, the chairman of Euroclear plc and Euroclear Bank, says: "We are delighted with the strong vote of confidence and support from our shareholders, which serves to reinforce our conviction that the merger and new business model we have proposed is in line with our clients' needs. Our commitment to strong user governance underpins our plans to reduce cross-border transaction costs to the level of domestic transactions."
Sir Nigel Wicks, chairman of CRESTCo and the future deputy chairman of Euroclear adds: "Shareholders have shown overwhelming support for this merger. We will now move to integrate the two companies quickly and effectively in order to deliver to all our customers the benefits of a single domestic market for Europe."
Completion of the merger is dependent upon meeting certain remaining conditions, including confirmation from the UK's Office of Fair Trading that the merger is not to be referred to the UK Competition Commission.