Banorte shareholders vote to create Mexico's No. 2 bank
(Adds confirmation from Banorte, share price)
By Christine Murray
MONTERREY, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Shareholders in Mexico's Banorte on Tuesday approved the acquisition of Grupo Financiero Interacciones, which will create the country's second-biggest bank.
More than 81 percent of shareholders attended the meeting and 71.6 percent of them voted in favor of the deal, Banorte said in a filing with the Mexican stock exchange.
Banorte was already the biggest Mexican-owned bank and the smaller Interacciones is a major player in loans to state governments and builders. The chairman of Banorte, Carlos Hank Gonzalez, is from Mexico's influential Hank family and is the son of the chairman of Interacciones, Carlos Hank Rhon.
The half-cash, half-stock deal was valued at 26.6 billion Mexican pesos ($1.42 billion), according to a presentation seen by Reuters. The merger is still subject to approval by Mexican regulators.
Banorte shares were up 1.8 percent on Tuesday and were little changed after news of the approval. ($1 = 18.7310 Mexican pesos) (Reporting by Christine Murray; editing by Cynthia Osterman and Rosalba O'Brien)
