As widely expected, the shareholders of Kerry Group Plc overwhelmingly backed the proposal which will see the company sell its Irish dairy division to Kerry Co-op for an eventual consideration of €500m.

The tally at the vote in Tralee on Thursday December 19 showed 99.83% of shareholders backed the deal, with 84,748,707 votes in favour and 141,376 against. (Every share in the plc counts as a single vote, which explains the very large number of votes).

The vote was the last box that needed to be ticked to allow the takeover to go ahead, with regulatory approval already secured and the backing of members of Kerry Co-op given at a separate vote on Monday December 16.

Timeline

Both Kerry Co-op and Kerry Group had previously indicated that they hoped the deal would be completed by the end of January, and following this vote there now seems little threat to that timeline.

Kerry Group shares are currently trading close to €92, around €4 per share higher than they were when the deal was first announced.

Should they sustain that level around the completion of the deal, it would mean Kerry Co-op would need approximately €11.5m less debt in order to fund the first €350m tranche of the deal.