Canada: Shareholder approval of the merger between Adolph Coors Co. and Molson Inc. means that Ian Molson failed in his attempt to block the deal, Denver Post commented on January 29. Molson, 49, the company's former deputy chairman and a cousin of Chairman Eric Molson, said on Jan. 11 he opposed the merger because it was "in effect a Coors takeover of Molson, with no premium being paid to Molson shareholders."

Ian Molson owns 2.3 million Class B shares, or about 11 % of the voting stock. After the merger proposal was announced in July, he said he was trying to arrange a rival bid for Molson valued at about C$40 a share. He didn't return a telephone message left after the close of regular business hours at his London office.

Facing Molson Inc. shareholder doubts about the deal, Coors and the Molson company agreed to pay a C$316 million special dividend to Molson shareholders in November, plus an additional C$216 million earlier this month. Shareholder Francois Perreault said he was going to oppose the merger until the dividend deal. "Molson wasn't really giving us a good deal," said Perreault, adding the dividend "pushed me over the edge." Warren Chippindale, a former director of Molson, said shareholders understood that it was likely the best offer they would get.

Eric Molson, who controls a majority of Molson's voting shares along with his brother Stephen Molson, waived his right to participate in the special dividend. That increased the payout to shareholders by slightly less than 1 percent. "I think that it was generous of the Molsons to offer the special dividends and not take it for themselves," Chippindale said after he voted. He shrugged off concerns that yet another Canadian industry was being dominated by U.S. interests. "It's a big world and that's where the market is," he said. "I would rather see this kind of a merger than a takeover by a Miller or something like that." Molson's share of the Canadian market slipped 2.8 percentage points from a year earlier to 42.4 percent for the fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30.

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