A cup of Tim Hortons coffee is pictured Burger King Whopper at a Burger King restaurant in Toronto in this file photo.Chris Young/The Globe and Mail
Tim Hortons Inc. shareholders have voted to approve the takeover of the doughnut chain by Burger King Worldwide Inc.
At a special meeting where 64 per cent of the company's shares were represented, the company said its deal with the U.S. No. 2 burger chain was approved – a deal the Canadian company's leaders say is meant to give Tim Hortons a global footprint.
"The next chapter of the Tim Hortons story is about to be written," Tim Hortons chief executive officer Marc Caira said after the vote, which required a two-thirds vote to go ahead. The company did not announce the final results.
Mr. Caira said the deal would see Tim Hortons become a more "bold, assertive" company, as the merged company pledges to expand the brand in the U.S. and around the world.
He also said that the company's talks with Burger King before the deal was announced in August resulted in "four successive offers" for Tim Hortons of increasing value, along with commitments to maintain the doughnut chain as a standalone brand.
Last week, Industry Minister James Moore announced that the federal government had cleared the deal, which he said came with pledged by Burger King related to maintaining jobs in Canada and at Tim Hortons headquarters in Oakville, Ont.
Jeff Gray