Shareholders of other parties vote for HK$8.22b deal with Beijing's blessing expected within weeks
Independent shareholders of the remaining public companies involved in Cathay Pacific Airways' proposed HK$8.22 billion takeover of Hong Kong Dragon Airlines overwhelmingly approved the buyout yesterday, bringing the high-profile deal closer to completion.
Air China's shareholders gathered in Beijing expressed the same confidence as Cathay's in Hong Kong, both groups voting yesterday 99 per cent in favour of the deal that would see Cathay spend HK$4.07 billion to raise its stake in China's biggest international airline to about 17.3 per cent from 10 per cent.
Shareholders of mainland conglomerate Citic Pacific, which will pull in HK$5.1 billion from selling its 28.5 per cent stake in Dragonair to Cathay and more than a quarter of its 17.5 per cent stake in Cathay to Air China, gave an identical vote on Monday.
Investors in China National Aviation Corp, which has proposed to sell its 43.29 per cent share in Dragonair to Cathay before delisting, also approved the deal. However, the count was not disclosed last night.
The deal still needs to be ratified by mainland authorities, a process expected to take three to four more weeks, Cathay chairman Christopher Pratt said at the extraordinary general meeting yesterday.
'In terms of the legalities, it is possible Cathay will not own Dragonair until the end of this month or possibly even later,' Mr Pratt said.