Samsung C&T shareholders approve Cheil Industries' takeover offer

17/07/2015 - 5:05

SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung C&T Corp shareholders on Friday voted to approve an $8 billion all-share takeover offer from sister firm Cheil Industries Inc, a close-run but key win for Samsung Group's founding family as it prepares for generational succession at South Korea's largest conglomerate.

Samsung C&T's co-Chief Executive Officer Choi Chi-hun said at an extraordinary shareholder meeting called to vote on the deal that 69.53 percent of votes cast were in favor of the merger. The deal required the backing of two-thirds of votes cast to be approved.

U.S. hedge fund Elliott Associates, C&T's third-largest shareholder with a 7.1 percent stake, had opposed the deal in a vocal shareholder activism campaign, rare for South Korea, saying the Cheil offer undervalues C&T.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee and Sohee Kim; Writing by Se Young Lee; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)