FLASH: Medtronic shareholders also OK Covidien deal

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) said today that its shareholders followed Covidien‘s (NYSE:COV)  in approving their $43 billion merger proposal, setting the stage for the deal to close in a few weeks.

Medtronic said shareholders owning roughly 75.2% of its stock voted to approve the mega-deal today in Minnesota, a few hours after a similar announcement from Covidien.

The merger is on track to close in the last week of January or early February, subject to the approval of the High Court of Ireland, Medtronic said.

"We are extremely pleased with the positive vote we received today by our shareholders," chairman & CEO Omar Ishrak said in prepared remarks. "We are convinced that the addition of Covidien’s people and technologies will allow us to expedite our strategic initiatives and will allow us to treat more people, in more ways and in more places around the world.  We look forward to closing this transaction by the end of January or early February."