HP advisory due next week
Institutional adviser ISS to make recommendation Monday or Tuesday.
February 26, 2002: 3:55 p.m. ET
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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Institutional Shareholder Services, whose recommendation will weigh heavily on Hewlett Packard Co.'s proposed $21 billion takeover of Compaq Corp., likely will make its determination early next week, a spokesman told CNN/Money.
Rockville, Md.-based ISS, which advises some 500 institutional clients and was hired by some to give an opinion on the HP-Compaq merger, could make a decision by next Monday or Tuesday at the latest, the spokesman said.
Shareholders of Hewlett-Packard (HWP: up $0.02 to $20.00, Research, Estimates) will vote March 19 on the merger and Compaq (CPQ: down $0.19 to $10.41, Research, Estimates) shareholders will vote the next day
Already, 18 percent of HP shares are set to be voted against the merger. In early December, a key shareholder, the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, made a preliminary decision to oppose the deal. The Packard Foundation holds more than 10 percent of HP's shares.
Other heirs of the founding Hewlett and Packard families also oppose the merger. Combined, the Packard Foundation and the heirs hold roughly 18 percent of HP's shares.
Dissident Walter Hewlett, one of the opposing heirs, has launched a bitter proxy battle to stop the merger.
Analysts have said HP's takeover of Compaq needs approval of 67 percent of institutional shareholders, giving ISS's decision significant weight.
ISS usually goes along with management in merger situations. But if the company's voting record is broadened to include more contentious situations -- such as tracking stocks and restructurings -- ISS can go either way, spokesman Pat McGurn said. 
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