Shareholders of the Anglo-Swiss mining company Xstrata on Aug. 14 approved the company's planned takeover of Canadian group Falconbridge. Xstra said it would now pay for all Falconbridge shares tendered by 8.00 pm Toronto time Aug. 14 following the approval by a majority at Xstrata's extraordinary general meeting. Canadian regulators have already given a green light to a Falconbridge-Xstrata merger.
Xstrata won a bidding war for Falconbridge last month with an offer estimated at 24.1 billion Canadian dollars (US$21.2 billion). The combined companies would create the fifth-biggest mining group in the world and reinforce Xstrata's copper mining business in South America.
Fuelled by booming commodities prices, Xstrata has expanded rapidly over the past 18 months through a series of acquisitions.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2006
