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Hospira shareholders on Wednesday approved the $16 billion sale of the Lake Forest-based company to Pfizer, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies.

Once the deal closes, Hospira shareholders will receive $90 a share in cash, a 39 percent premium to the closing price Feb. 4, the day before the transaction was announced.

At a special meeting of shareholders, 140.7 million votes were cast in favor of the deal, 326,868 votes against and there were 469,970 abstentions, according to a Hospira securities filing.

Hospira makes injectable drugs and infusion technologies. The company also is a leading player in the emerging market for lower-priced knockoffs of costly biotech drugs.

Pfizer has said it expects the deal to close in the second half of the year.

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