Chinese meat and food processor Zhongpin (HOGS.DL) announced today its shareholders had voted in favor of the going-private proposal offered on Feb. 8.
Approximately 65.5% of the meat processor's shares were voted, and of that amount, approximately 97.7% voted in favor of it. The company noted that 51.3% of shares unaffiliated with the company voted in favor of the proposal.
Zhongpin is selling itself to a consortium of companies led primarily by the company's chairman and CEO, Xianfu Zhu, who owns approximately 17.3% of the company's stock. It will be paying $13.50 per share in cash for the meat processor. The merger deal was announced in November.
The company also said a separate, non-binding proposal to limit the compensation received by named executives in the event of the going-private plan's approval was also approved. The executives will be limited to the cash-out of stock options at the excess of the per-share merger consideration -- $13.50 per share -- over the relevant exercise price per share. Zhongpin said 94.3% of the shares voted in favor of the proposal.
With the merger approved, the meat processor said it will work to complete the transaction as "soon as practicable," and when done, Zhongpin's stock will be delisted from the Nasdaq exchange.