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Voting on Lloyds HBOS takeover

I'm confused as to why the Lloy takeover of Hbos seems to be considered a certainty if it still requires Lloy shareholder approval?

Every Lloy shareholder I know (including myself) hates the deal. Surely (at the very least) there must be a chance the vote will be against it?

My actual view is that it's a certainty to be voted against but I may be misunderstanding something basic.

Comments

  • opinions4u
    opinions4u Posts: 19,411 Forumite
    It's not a done deal and requires shareholder approval from both HBOS and Lloyds.

    If you believe the credit crunch will come to an end, and that Lloyds can raise the necessary funding for the HBOS assets in the interim, it's a bargain for Lloyds.

    If shareholders vote against, and HBOS collapses as a result, who is to say Lloyds won't be next to tumble anyway?

    From an HBOS perspective it's Lloyds or nationalisation as a going concern. From a Lloyds perspective, it's a long term winner as long as there are guarantees the short term can be successfully negotiated.

    If the deal collapses, God help UK plc.
  • dzug1
    dzug1 Posts: 13,535 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Fella wrote: »
    My actual view is that it's a certainty to be voted against but I may be misunderstanding something basic.

    It's the institutional shareholders who will make the decision - they hold by far and away the majority of shares in any company. Even if all the small shareholders vote against, they will be heavily outnumbered should the major shareholders support the deal. Which they probably (but not certainly) will.
  • It can't go through it will be just wrong..... can we set up a poll to see what people think or can we not do that here?
  • Fella
    Fella Posts: 7,921 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    dzug1 wrote: »
    It's the institutional shareholders who will make the decision - they hold by far and away the majority of shares in any company. Even if all the small shareholders vote against, they will be heavily outnumbered should the major shareholders support the deal. Which they probably (but not certainly) will.

    Hmm, that's an angle I hadn't considered. And it hints at machialvellian levels of of subtlety in this deal's mechanics - those institutional holders will also hold Hbos.....
  • There wouldn't be a vote if they didn't know they were going to win it. It's all sewn-up behind closed doors long before any vote
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