Hess shareholders approved Chevron acquisition by “thin majority” on ExxonMobil arbitration uncertainty

(Bloomberg) – Hess Corp. shareholders approved the company’s proposal to be acquired by Chevron Corp. for $53 billion by a razor-thin majority of 51% of shares outstanding.

Investors holding 157.6 million shares voted in favor of the deal while 92.6 million shares voted against or it or to abstain, according to a filing Friday. Hess has 308.1 million shares outstanding, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Hess lost an advisory vote on compensation related to the takeover. The company, led by Chief Executive Officer John Hess, announced the result of the vote on May 28 but without the number of votes cast.

The takeover vote was a significant win for Chevron CEO Mike Wirth and John Hess, who spent the weeks leading up to the vote personally calling and meeting with investors to rally support. The vote faced opposition from several prominent investors who wanted to delay it until there was more clarity over an arbitration case with Exxon Mobil Corp. over Hess’ oil assets in Guyana.

Now that shareholders have approved the deal, there’s no prospect of a higher offer from a third-party or sweetened terms from Chevron. The next step now moves to the Federal Trade Commission, which needs to decide whether or not to sue to block the deal on competition grounds in the coming weeks. Exxon, which claims a right of first refusal over the Hess assets, says the arbitration case could run into next year.