It was over in 20 minutes, without a protest, a whimper or a question from the audience.
In overwhelming fashion yesterday, Mellon Financial's shareholders supported a merger with The Bank of New York that will shift headquarters of the venerable company to Manhattan after 138 years as a Pittsburgh institution.
What was emphasized and celebrated at the brief Downtown shareholders meeting was the creation of a 40,000-person financial services giant with $18.6 trillion in assets under custody -- No. 1 in the world in that category -- and the prediction that Mellon would maintain a big Pittsburgh presence going forward, with promises of more jobs in the years to come.
"It is a historic day for our company," said Mellon Chief Executive Officer Robert Kelly, who will become CEO of the combined company and hopes to celebrate the union by ringing the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange on July 2.
Those with older connections to Mellon urged Pittsburghers to embrace the company's future. Former Mellon Chairman and CEO Frank Cahouet, who attended yesterday's meeting and still lives in the Pittsburgh area, conceded he had some sadness at the forthcoming departure of Mellon's home office to Manhattan, but also argued, "We are in a global business, and New York has its attractions for this kind of business."
Asked if the deal was a good one for Pittsburgh, as Mellon executives have argued while pledging to create 1,000 to 2,000 jobs here over the next three to five years, Mr. Cahouet said: "I think it's a realistic deal for Pittsburgh, and I think that Bob [Kelly] is absolutely correct that there will be job growth here as a fallout of this. They will consolidate operations here. It just makes good economic sense."
Mellon also intends to eliminate about 10 percent of its local work force of 6,000 over the next three years, which would mean cuts of about 600 people, even as it adds jobs here. The total combined work force worldwide will fall from 40,000 to about 36,000.
If the deal clears various international, federal and state regulatory approvals and closes in early July as expected, Mellon shareholders will receive one share in the new company for each share of Mellon they currently own.
Mellon did not reveal how many shareholders approved the merger yesterday, except to say that it was more than 90 percent of the votes cast. The Bank of New York shareholders, who also approved the union yesterday during a separate meeting in Manhattan, will receive .9434 shares for every share they own, giving existing Bank of New York shareholders 63 percent of the shares in the combined company, to be called The Bank of New York Mellon Corp.
Mr. Kelly conceded that the new corporate name was a mouthful -- the individual business lines will carry the shorter name of BNY Mellon. "It's little complicated, I must say," he said. "You have to inhale a little bit more deeply than normal to get the name out." But, "We have taken a look at it on business cards and it looks fine."
As for a new logo and colors, management is leaning toward "something conservative and sophisticated," he said, as opposed to "bright colors."
When asked if this sort of deal were part of the mandate when Mr. Kelly took the CEO job in February 2006, he said: "Not really. In fact, we were happy with where we were heading financially. We were making good returns for shareholders. This was based initially on a conversation that The Bank of New York had with myself. The more we talked about it, either with senior management or the directors, the more it seemed a very good thing to do for all of our stakeholders, Pittsburgh included."
Very few shareholders other than Mellon executives or directors showed up for yesterday's meeting at the Omni William Penn. "It's possible you can count them on one hand," said Ken Herz, a spokesman.
Six board members were there, including U.S. Steel CEO John Surma, J.J. Gumberg Co. CEO Ira Gumberg, Carnegie Mellon University President Jared Cohon and University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark Nordenberg.
A notable absence was the one Mellon family member with any significant connection to the company, board member Seward Prosser Mellon, who still owns 239,056 shares and is president of the $2 billion Richard King Mellon Foundation.
First Published: May 25, 2007, 3:15 a.m.
