Financial services group Wide Bay Australia will move ahead with its planned takeover of Mackay Permanent Building Society (MPBS) after shareholders approved the deal.
Wide Bay Australia managing director Ron Hancock confirmed it had gained approval in respect of the deal for 94.79 per cent of MPBS shares.
With the acceptances received to date, 91.1 per cent of MPBS shareholders accepted the share offer. It is expected around 4.3 million shares will be issued under the offer.
Hancock said the integration of the two companies was progressing steadily and some restructuring had already been implemented.
"Our IT department and senior management are working with the management of MPBS to ensure we address the major task of integrating our two computer systems," he said.
He said he hoped the total operations would be completely integrated within the next three months.
"We estimate that we will be able to implement synergies quickly and believe that the merger will be marginally accretive for the remainder of 2007/08 having regard to the forecast earnings of 72.8 cents per share for the 2007/08 year," he said.
"The synergies for the full 2008/09 financial year are estimated to be a minimum of 10 per cent of the 2007/08 forecast."
The merged group will have assets in excess of $2.1 billion.
Wide Bay launched a $52.6 million takeover bid for MPBS on October 29, offering shareholders a choice of $9.40 per share or 0.65 Wide Bay shares plus $1 cash.
