Symantec, Veritas shareholders give green light to merger

Symantec and Veritas on Friday announced that their respective shareholders have approved the merger of the two companies, with Symantec acquiring Veritas in an exchange of common stock for 1.1242 shares of Symantec common stock at the official closing.

Symantec and Veritas said they now expect the official closing date for the merger to be July 2. Security firm Symantec has 6,000 employees and annual sales of $1.9 billion, while storage management vendor Veritas has 6,700 employees and annual sales of $1.8 billion. The combined entities will operate under the corporate name Symantec.

The two firms said that of the 76% of outstanding Symantec shares that were voted upon, 95% were cast in favor of the merger. Of the 73% of outstanding Veritas shares that were voted upon, 98% were cast in favor of the merger.

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Symantec and Veritas on Friday announced that their respective shareholders have approved the merger of the two companies, with Symantec acquiring Veritas in an exchange of common stock for 1.1242 shares of Symantec common stock at the official closing.

Symantec and Veritas said they now expect the official closing date for the merger to be July 2. Security firm Symantec has 6,000 employees and annual sales of $1.9 billion, while storage management vendor Veritas has 6,700 employees and annual sales of $1.8 billion. The combined entities will operate under the corporate name Symantec.

The two firms said that of the 76% of outstanding Symantec shares that were voted upon, 95% were cast in favor of the merger. Of the 73% of outstanding Veritas shares that were voted upon, 98% were cast in favor of the merger.

The merger, proposed last December was strongly advocated by Symantec CEO John Thompson, who asserted that the union would benefit both companies through more integrated security and storage products. The expected price tag for Symantec to acquire Veritas at that time was $13.5 billion.

The stock market reacted with uncertainty to the announcement last December, causing Symantec stock to plummet by about one third in the months following news of the proposed merger. On Friday, Symantec stood at just over $21 per share, down from its high of $34.