AMD shareholders OK plant spinoff plan

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Shareholders of Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD.N) have approved its plan to spin off its manufacturing plants into a $5 billion joint venture with an Abu Dhabi firm, the company said on Wednesday.

AMD, hoping to split its operations into chip design and manufacturing arms, planned to spin off its manufacturing plants into a $5 billion joint venture with an affiliate of Mubadala Development Co PJSC.

Under the agreement, Advanced Technology Investment Co, an Abu Dhabi state-owned venture capital firm, will invest $2.1 billion for a 65.8 percent stake of the fully converted stock in the venture. Of that investment, $700 million would go directly to AMD, which will hold the remaining stake.

The transaction is expected to close March 2.

Shares of AMD, a distant rival to Intel Corp (INTC.O) in making microprocessors for personal computers, slid 6.3 percent. In October, AMD announced plans for the spinoff but the vote was delayed last week after failing to obtain the requisite quorum.

(Reporting by Janet Kornblum; Editing by Brian Moss)