Frontier announced their shareholders have “…overwhelmingly voted to adopt the merger agreement pursuant to which Frontier has agreed to acquire Verizon Communications Inc.’s local exchange businesses in 14 states and certain related customer relationships for long distance services, broadband Internet access and broadband video.” The Frontier acquisition of Verizon’s assets was first announced in May 2009. This shareholder approval is the first of many milestones which have to happen, including a series of regulatory approvals, before the acquisition will be official.
The Frontier-Verizon deal takes on renewed interest in the wake of FairPoint’s recent bankruptcy filing. The approval process will surely take on new scrutiny given the perceived similarities, justified or not, between the two deals.
do verizon shareholders have to approve this deal? if so, and they haven't done so already, i would assume there will be some opposition. verizon shareholders have been shafted in these previous deals where the stock from the hawaiian and fairpoint deals has become worthless due to bankruptcy.