UE, CIPSCO TO MERGE

More than 96 percent of Union Electric's shareholders voting on the question during a meeting at St. Louis last week approved the merger. The vote represented 71.1 percent of UE's total outstanding common and preferred shares.

At a CIPSCO meeting in Springfield, 96.5 percent of CIPSCO's shareholders voting on the question approved the agreement, representing 76.4 percent of total outstanding common shares.

A two-thirds favorable vote was required for shareholder approval of the merger.

A new, registered public utility holding company -- Ameren Corp, -- has been formed as the parent of both Union Electric and Central Illinois Public Service.

Charles W. Mueller, president and chief executive officer of Union Electric, and Clifford L. Greenwalt, CIPSCO president, said the high level of approval among voting shareholders indicates a "strong confirmation" of the benefits of the merger of the two "low-cost, financially strong companies."

The merger is expected to be completed by year-end, pending regulatory review by a number of agencies -- the Illinois Commerce Commission, Missouri Public Service Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission

The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice will review the agreement.

The agreement calls for holders of Union Electric common stock to receive one share of the new holding company common stock for each UE share they hold. Cipsco common-stock holders will receive 1.03 shares for the new holding company stock of each of the CIPSCO shares.

The transaction was announced in August. The combined market capitalization of the two companies is approximately $5.5 billion. The merger will create a combined company with assets of almost $9 billion. It is anticipated that Ameren will adopt Union Electric's dividend payment level.

The combined entity will serve 1.4 million electric customers and 300,000 natural-gas customers in a 44,000-square-mile area of Missouri and Illinois. Union Electric had 118,806 registered common and preferred shareholders, and CIPSCO had 39,889 common shareholders as of Nov. 30, 1995.