Sotheby’s Shareholders Overwhelmingly Approve the Company’s $3.7 Billion Acquisition by French Media Mogul Patrick Drahi

It’s official: Sotheby’s is going private.

The auction house’s shareholders officially approved the
proposed $3.7 billion
acquisition by French-Israeli telecom magnate
Patrick Drahi’s company BidFair at a special stockholder
meeting in New York this morning.

News of the proposed deal was first announced in mid-June and is
expected to close sometime in the fourth quarter. Today, 91
percent of the shares voted in favor of the merger, a
representative said.

Under the terms of the agreement, shareholders, including
employee shareholders, will receive $57 in cash per share
of Sotheby’s common stock. That price was a steep 61 percent
higher than where shares were trading at the time the deal was
announced. Following news of the deal, the stock shot up to around
$59, sparking some discussion that an even higher offer might be in
the pipeline, though no competing offers appear to have
emerged.

Shares of the stock, which trade under the symbol BID, and which
will soon be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange once Drahi
takes the company private, closed just under $57 a share yesterday.
This morning, shares were trading at $56.88 down slightly from
yesterday. (Sotheby’s went public in 1988.)

The auction house had been hit with four lawsuits brought by shareholders attempting
to stop the deal. They argued that the information contained in a
July 12 proxy statement included incomplete information about the
lead-up to the Drahi deal. Sotheby’s has described the suits as
“expected and routine” and said they were not expected to impact
the deal.

Drahi’s offer “delivers a significant premium to market for our
shareholders, including our employee shareholders, and positions
Sotheby’s well for the future,” the auction house’s chairman
Domenico De Sole said in a statement.

“This is an historic moment for Sotheby’s and we are very
pleased to have the validation of the company’s shareholders,” CEO
Tad Smith said. He added that Sotheby’s is “on track for another
strong season with outstanding auctions set to be held in Hong Kong
and contemporary art sales that will inaugurate our newly renovated
space on Bond Street in London early next month.”

The post Sotheby’s Shareholders Overwhelmingly Approve the
Company’s $3.7 Billion Acquisition by French Media Mogul Patrick
Drahi appeared first on artnet News.