Imperial Tobacco Group Tuesday said its cash offer for Altadis has been accepted by 93.5 per cent of shareholders of Altadis, paving the way for the completion of its € 12.6 billion acquisition.

UK cigarette manufacturer Imperial Tobacco said in a statement that it received close to 236 million Altadis shares, according to preliminary calculations, well above the minimum acceptance level of 80 per cent stipulated in Imperial's takeover bid conditions.
The high acceptance level means that the remaining shares can be purchased at the offer price, Imperial said.
The final result of the takeover offer is expected to be disclosed by the Spanish market supervisor CNMV on 25 January. After that, Imperial said it plans to disclose its intentions in relation to cigarette distributor Compania de Distribucion Integral Logista. Analysts have speculated that Imperial could sell Logista to focus on core cigarette and cigar manufacturing operations. (pi)