Bank Of America To Vote Against H-P Compaq Merger
By: Donna Fuscaldo, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Bank Of America (NYSE: BAC - news) Capital Management Inc., one of Hewlett-Packard Co .'s (HWP) largest shareholders, said Wednesday it plans to vote against H-P's proposed purchase of Compaq Computer (NYSE: CPQ - news) Corp. (CPQ).
Joe Fazzino, a spokesman at the St. Louis money management firm, said that while it holds 53.4 million shares, or 2.75% of H-P, it only has the authority to vote roughly 6 million of that stake.
Bank Of America becomes the latest large institution to voice its opposition to the hotly-contested deal. H-P shareholders are scheduled to vote on the merger March 19 .
According to Fazzino, the firm is opposed to the merger because the combined company would have an "unfavorable product mix," it would increase it reliance on personal-computers, would face "significant" integration challenges and would likely dilute earnings going forward.
(This story was originally published by Dow Jones Newswires) |
