Shareholders in Elan overwhelmingly voted in favour of the proposed acquisition of the pharmaceutical group by the US company Perrigo this morning.

At a special meeting of shareholders, in Dublin’s The DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, 95 per cent of shareholders approved the proposal, with fewer than 1 per cent opposing.

The meeting was first convened by the Irish High Court in order to seek shareholder approval of the Scheme of Arrangement in accordance with Irish law.

The deal, which was announced last July, will see the US generic drugmaker pay $8.6 billion (€ 6.48 billion) for Elan in a deal that will hand it royalty rights from a blockbuster treatment and tax savings from being domiciled in Ireland.

Michigan-based Perrigo established New Perrigo, a private limited company incorporated in Ireland, solely for the purpose of effecting the transaction.

Following the conclusion of the deal, an indirect subsidiary of New Perrigo will merge with and into Perrigo, as a result of which the separate corporate existence of this subsidiary will cease and Perrigo will continue as the surviving corporation as a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of New Perrigo.

At the effective date, all Perrigo shares will be cancelled and each Perrigo share will automatically be converted into the right to receive one New Perrigo share and $0.01 in cash.