Shareholders of Centel Appear to OK Sprint Merger

Centel Corp. officials said Wednesday that they believe that they won shareholder approval to merge with fellow phone company Sprint Corp., passing the biggest roadblock in one of the year’s most contested buyouts.

“We’re confident based on what we have in our hands right now that the merger will be approved,” Centel Chairman John Frazee said.

But a large number of proxy votes--votes from shareholders not at Wednesday’s meeting--kept the company from claiming victory, he said. Centel officials said they will not release vote totals until Dec. 11.

Sprint said its stockholders approved the merger at their own meeting Wednesday in Kansas City. The merger, essentially a buyout of Centel, requires majority approval of shareholders of both companies.

Dissenting Centel shareholders argued that the Chicago-based company is worth more than Sprint offered. Under the plan, they would receive 1.37 Sprint shares for each Centel share. At the time the plan was announced in May, that valued Centel at $2.85 billion.