Shareholders approve A.G. Edwards, Wachovia merger - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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billion merger with of Charlotte, N.C. The transactiojn is expected to close on orabout Oct. 1, when A.G. Edwarde will become part of the Wachovia Securities division to be headquartereein St. Louis. At a special meeting A.G. Edwards Chairman and Chief Executivde Robert Bagby announced the results ofthe vote. Accordin to the company, shareholders representing 72 percent of outstandingsharesz voted. Of those, 92 percent voted in favotr ofthe merger. "We are very pleaseds to have received such strong support from our stockholderas on our mergerwith Wachovia," Bagbhy said in a statement.
"We look forward to our next stepzs toward completing this merger and demonstrating the valu our firm brings to Wachovia for the benefit of clients, employees and stockholders alike." Following the official businessd in a packed auditorium at A.G. Edward's downtowj headquarters, Bagby invited former Chairman Ben Edwardzs III to address employees and Edwards voted against the merger and has been a voca l critic of Bagby and the board of plan to sellthe "The way this deal was done, it woulcd have been harmful to the firm if it hadn'r gone through," Edwards told the Business Journal in reference to a $270 million penalty that A.G.
Edwardsa would have had to pay if it caused the merger tofall through. "I voted against it. Now we will have to look There is more consolidationto go, and there are still probablyg more people who will lose there jobs, but nothin g like in Richmond (Va.) wheree Wachovia Securities is headquartered. I hear something like 2,500 jobs are being cut there." Employeed shared a mix of smileds and tears following the and many stopped tosay "good-bye" and "thank you" to Edwards. Bagb y and the board have said the deal with Wachoviqa is in the best interestof A.G. Edwards shareholdersx as it will createthe nation's second-largest investmentr brokerage.
Critics argue Bagby and other top executives may have been swayed less by what was in the best interest of shareholdersw and more by what was best for them personally since theysecuredr multimillion-dollar payouts as part of the agreement with Bagby alone will collecg about $28 million in salary, incentivr bonuses, stock awards and other benefits through the deal he cut for himselc while leading A.G. negotiations with Wachovia. Those negotiations took less than thred weeks in May to complete and no othe r offers were soughtor considered. N.C.-based Wachovia (NYSE: WB) is buying the 120-year-olxd St. Louis-based brokerage (NYSE: AGE) in a $6.
8 billion It will create a combinedsecurities firm, to be base d in St. Louis, with $1.1 trillion in client nearly 15,000 brokers and 1,50o retail brokerage offices. St. Louis-based is the brokerage arm of A.G. Edwards Inc. AGE), a financial services holding company. N.C.-based Wachovia (NYSE: WB) is buying the 120-year-olsd St. Louis-based brokerage (NYSE: AGE) . It will create a combinec securities firm, to be basedx in St. Louis, with $1.1 trillion in client nearly 15,000 brokers and 1,500 retail brokerage offices.