JPMorgan buyout of Bear Stearns OK'd

NEW YORK -- Bear Stearns Cos. shareholders on Thursday approved JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s $2.2 billion buyout of the investment bank whose wagers on subprime mortgages made it the largest corporate casualty of the global credit crisis.

The widely anticipated "yes" vote at Bear Stearns' midtown Manhattan headquarters means the company will officially become part of JPMorgan Chase by today..

The bank is buying Bear Stearns for about $10 a share. Back in January 2007, before mortgage defaults began clobbering banks and draining demand from the debt markets, Bear Stearns had traded at $171 a share.

The meeting began at 10 a.m. and lasted less than 10 minutes. Some of the 85-year-old investment bank's shareholders said afterward they were angered by the speed at which the deal was approved.

"They were up there drinking coffee paid with my money ... and we lost our money overnight," said Hannah Horgan, a Bear Stearns shareholder. "I have nothing left, and they were so calm."

Arthur Ulrich, another shareholder, said he was fixated during the meeting on the faces of Bear Stearns' outgoing management. He said longtime chairman and former CEO James Cayne, who presided over the meeting, "looked rather disheveled."

"He said he was sorry for what happened, but did not apologize for his actions," Ulrich said. "He said (Bear Stearns management) ran into a hurricane, and not to believe what you see in the press."

Bear Stearns' troubles can be traced back to last June, when two of its hedge funds collapsed.

Those fund casualties not only foreshadowed the investment bank's own demise, but also effectively launched the recent credit crisis by showing how much damage the slumping mortgage market could incur on the companies that bought, repackaged and sold the loans.

JPMorgan upped its initial offer of $2-a-share to $10-a-share after outcry from Bear Stearns shareholders.