MURRAY HILL, N.J.—There were no surprises as Lucent Technologies Inc. laid out the official tally of its shareholder votes for and against the company’s proposed merger with France’s Alcatel Inc. In a Wednesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Lucent reported that 51.98 percent of its shares voted in favor of the merger, virtually the same amount the company posted at the end of its shareholder meeting last week after an initial vote count.
The following shareholder-vote statistics were included in Lucent’s SEC filing:
—2.33 billion shares voted for the merger
—116.4 million shares voted against the merger
—39.7 million shares abstained
—Lucent has a total of about 4.5 billion shares outstanding.
For the merger to move forward, Lucent needed at least 50 percent of its shares to vote in favor of the deal, which many have called an all-out acquisition since Alcatel is set to pay $10.7 billion to join forces with Lucent. In the combined company, to be called Alcatel Lucent, Alcatel shareholders will control 60 percent of the firm’s stock, while Lucent shareholders will control the remaining 40 percent.
The companies said they expect the merger to close by the end of this year.
