Prysmian acquisition of General Cable earns shareholder approval

Feb. 19, 2018

General Cable Corp. said the voting results from the company's stockholders meeting are in, and its previously announced acquisition by Prysmian Group for $30.00 per share in cash has been approved.

General Cable Corp. (NYSE: BGC) said the voting results from the company's stockholders meeting are in, and its previously announced acquisition by Prysmian Group (BIT: PRY) for $30.00 per share in cash has been approved.

A total of 38,140,754 shares were voted in favor of the merger. This total represents about 75.34% of the total number of common stock shares outstanding and approximately 99% of the total votes cast, says General Cable, which makes wire and cable products, including fiber-optic cable. The $30.00 per share offer represents a premium of approximately 81% to General Cable's closing price of $16.55 per share on the last day of trading before General Cable announced its strategic review in July 2017 (see "Prysmian to pay $3 billion for General Cable").

This announcement brings to a close the review of strategic alternatives General Cable announced in July 2017 (see "General Cable reviewing strategic alternatives"). At the time of the acquisition agreement. Prysmian said it expected the deal to improve earnings per share by 10-12% within the first year following closing, excluding cost synergies and before related implementation costs.

General Cable, which is headquartered in Highland Heights, KY, expects the deal to close in the third quarter of 2018, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

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