VANCOUVER, British Columbia--March 29, 2005-- Creo Inc. announced that its shareholders approved all statutory and special business submitted for their vote at today's annual and special meeting of shareholders. Shareholders voted to approve the proposed acquisition of Creo by Eastman Kodak Company and the resolution to waive the application of the company's shareholder rights plan to the transaction. At the meeting, shareholders also re-elected the 10 current members of the Creo board of directors and re-appointed KPMG LLP as the company's auditor for the ensuing year. The meeting was held in Burnaby, B.C. Of a total of 33,186,209 votes cast with respect to the proposed transaction, 99.8 percent were voted in favor of the resolution. Of a total of 33,181,059 votes cast with respect to waiving application of the shareholder rights plan, 97.8 percent were voted in favor of the resolution. Voting results will be filed with the Canadian and United States securities regulators later today.
The Acquisition
As previously announced on January 31, 2005, Kodak intends to acquire of all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Creo by way of a statutory plan of arrangement at a cash price of US$16.50 per share or approximately US$980 million. After the approval of Creo shareholders received today, the proposed transaction remains subject to the receipt of various regulatory and court approvals.
Final approval from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Commercial List) will be sought on April 1, 2005.
The parties continue to work toward obtaining all required regulatory approvals and completing the transaction in the summer of 2005.