Hewlett-Packard Co. employees with shares in the computer company's retirement plan will vote against HP's proposed $21 billion acquisition of Compaq Computer Corp. by a more than 2-to-1 margin, a source close to Walter Hewlett's camp said on Monday. The retirement plan, which holds more than 34.3 million HP shares held by Hewlett-Packard and Agilent Technologies employees, has registered more than 24.7 million "No" votes against the merger and 9.6 million "Yes" votes in support of the deal, the source said.
The plan's administrator had asked all employees to turn in their votes by Monday so they could be voted at Tuesday's crucial shareholder's meeting, which will decide the fate of the bitterly-contested merger being opposed by HP board member Walter Hewlett. The Texas Teachers Retirement Systems, which owns 5.9 million shares of Hewlett-Packard, is also voting against the merger, chief investment officer John Peavy said on Monday. That represents about a 0.30 percent stake in the company.
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