APT Afterpay Limited

   By Stuart Condie 
 

SYDNEY--Afterpay Ltd. shareholders overwhelmingly voted in favor of the Australian buy-now-pay-later provider's acquisition by Block Inc.

The ASX-listed company on Tuesday said 99.95% of votes cast at a scheme meeting went in favor of the all-scrip takeover, which valued Afterpay at about $29 billion when it was announced in August.

Block's shares have lost more than 35% of their value since late August, and are down 29% from their price prior to the acquisition announcement.

Afterpay said the only remaining condition was the Bank of Spain's approval for a license application by Block, which wants to use Afterpay to tie its Cash App and seller ecosystems more closely together.

Afterpay, which generates the bulk of its revenue from merchants, but widely engages with consumers to drive business, said it expects the Supreme Court in Australia's New South Wales state to approve the scheme on Friday, subject to subsequent satisfaction of the Bank of Spain condition by April 14.

Analysts have said they expect the transaction to proceed. Afterpay this month said it anticipated the Bank of Spain's approval by mid-January, which RBC Capital Markets said chimed with the timeline for similar approval of Afterpay's acquisition of Pagantis in fiscal 2021.

Overseas investment regulators in Australia, New Zealand and Spain have given their go-ahead, while Australia's competition watchdog decided against a public review.

Afterpay's shares are down 3.3% at A$91.56, putting them on course for their lowest finish since mid-May.

Write to Stuart Condie at stuart.condie@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 13, 2021 22:23 ET (03:23 GMT)

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