Overwhelming majority of shares back deal
Barratt and Redrow shareholders have approved the former’s plan to buy its smaller rival in a £2.5bn deal creating a £7.5bn turnover business.
Both housebuilders held meetings this morning to approve or reject the recommended all-share deal.
More than 99% of shareholders at the pair voted in favour of the move.
When the deal was announced in February, Barratt’s board said it would generate annual pre-tax cost savings of at least £90m by the third year after the completion.
Barratt has previously said up to 10% of staff, which would be around 850 jobs, at the enlarged group could lose their jobs as a result.
Under the deal, Barratt shareholders will own around two-thirds of the share capital of the combined group, to be known as Barratt Redrow, with shareholders of Redrow owning the remaining third.
It now only remains for regulators to approve the deal.
The Competition and Markets Authority announced in March that it had opened an investigation into the deal and whether it “may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition”.
Between them the pair delivered more than 22,000 homes last year.
Barratt is already the largest housebuilder in the UK in terms of income while Redrow ranked seventh in Building’s Top 50 Housebuilders list last year, which ranks firms by turnover.
>> Read more: Barratt’s acquisition of Redrow: the numbers and key players
An “invitation to comment” issued by the CMA reached its deadline on 2 April.
Barratt and Redrow are also among eight housebuilders being probed by the watchdog over potential “anti-competitive behaviour”.
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