Countrywide Financial shareholders approve takeover by Bank of America

6/25/2008
ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES Countrywide Financial Corp. says stockholders controlling a majority of the mortgage lender's outstanding shares have approved the company's takeover by Bank of America Corp.

Countrywide says more than 69 percent of outstanding shares were voted Wednesday in favor of the transaction at a stockholders meeting in Calabasas, California.

The lender says the deal is expected to close on July 1.

Countrywide agreed to sell itself in January for about $4 billion in stock. The deal is now valued at about $2.8 billion, reflecting a decline in Bank of America's stock price over the past six months.