• silicon.com
• Technology
• Networks

By Joey Gardiner, 19 March 2002 16:30

NEWS The result of the HP-Compaq merger vote, which takes place today, may not be known for at least a month, according to the firm responsible for counting the votes. Corporate voting expert Independent Voting Services (IVS) said today it was unable to judge exactly how long it would take to decide the future of the $22bn merger. Company principal Michael Barbera said: "A slightly smaller merger from last year took a month to count. We will not be able to declare a winner until that point." However, Barbera said the main protagonists in the vote - HP, Compaq and Walter Hewlett - may not have the same compunction. They may declare the winner before all the votes have been counted, based on their own polls, if they think the result is decisive. Barbera added: "Both sides could declare themselves the winner. But we won't know finally until we've counted all the votes. And from what I hear it could be a very close call." The counting takes so long because proxy votes - postal votes in advance - will not have been presented to IVS until the shareholder meeting today. Investors are allowed to vote as many times as they like, with only the last vote - in effect their final change of mind - actually being tallied. This means IVS has to line up all the votes from every investor and determine which has the latest date on it, before adding the vote to the poll. This laborious process will be carried out by hand by upwards of 20 dedicated staff at IVS. A spokeswoman for HP today refused to comment on when the outcome of the merger will finally be known. The shareholder meeting started at 17:00(GMT) - or 08:00 local time in Cupertino, California. If a strong vote either way occurs, the outcome could become reasonably clear fairly quickly. If the vote is close the uncertainty for HP and Compaq will drag on for weeks, as will the uncertainty for users. The news comes as two more HP employee pension funds came out against the merger. According to reports, the vast majority of shares held by an HP employee accumulation plan and an Agilent employee accumulation plan will be cast against the takeover deal.