Shareholders near unanimous on Henderson's Gartmore deal

Henderson shareholders have voted overwhelmingly in favour of the acquisition of Gartmore, with 99.97% giving the go-ahead.

At a general meeting this morning, voters were near unanimous on the £360m deal. This follows yesterday's meeting with Gartmore shareholders where 99% also voted in favour of the takeover terms. In today's meeting 432,114,176 votes were cast for the deal compared to  97,157, which were against. Ahead of the poll, Henderson chairman Rupert Pennant-Rea pointed to improved operating margins, a stronger fund range and a wider distribution network as reasons for the acquisition to go ahead. In terms of operating margins, Pennant-Rea says "substantial synergies" can be extracted from ...