DALLAS (AP) -- Sunoco Inc.'s shareholders on Thursday approved Energy Transfer Partners L.P. plans to buy the company for $5.3 billion, creating one of the more diverse pipeline companies in the country.
The companies expect the deal to close Friday.
Sunoco said that of the shareholders who voted, whose holdings represent about 66 percent of the company's stock, 97 percent voted in favor of the deal.
Energy Transfer is primarily a natural gas pipeline company. Sunoco's pipeline network will allow Dallas-based Energy Transfer to expand into moving crude oil and refined petroleum products from the Great Lakes and Northeast to American's refining center along the Gulf Cost.
Sunoco's pipelines have been in high demand recently, thanks to a boom in drilling for gas and oil in U.S. shale rock formations.
Shares of Sunoco fell 5 cents to close at $46.75. Energy Transfer Partners fell 12 cents to close at $41.62.
