Most shareholders of Anthem Inc. and WellPoint Health Networks Inc. have approved the companies' proposed $16 billion merger.[@@]
About 97% of the shareholders of WellPoint, Thousand Oaks, Calif., and 97% of the shareholders of Anthem, Indianapolis, who were represented at special meetings voted in favor of the deal, the managed care companies report.
California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi has complained in recent days about the possibility that some WellPoint executives might receive large payouts as a result of the terms of their compensation contracts and that Anthem might prove to be less committed to the California health insurance market than WellPoint has been.
The California Public Employees' Retirement System, a large California pension plan with more than 700,000 shares of WellPoint stock and more than 600,000 shares of Anthem stock, also has questioned the WellPoint executive compensation arrangements.
