Wachovia to skip vote on stock issuance to Wells

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wachovia Corp WB.N said on Friday it would not seek shareholder approval before issuing preferred stock to Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N), which has agreed to buy the troubled bank in a deal now worth about $12.2 billion.

As part of their agreement, Wachovia plans to issue Wells Fargo preferred stock representing 39.9 percent voting power.

Wachovia said issuing preferred stock would have normally required shareholder approval, but its board decided the delay caused by doing so would "seriously jeopardize the financial viability" of the company.

Wachovia said the New York Stock Exchange had accepted its application for an exception to the practice.

Wells Fargo looks set to buy Wachovia after negotiations failed with Citigroup Inc (C.N), which had first reached a U.S. government-brokered deal to buy Wachovia's banking operations for about $2.2 billion.

Citi is seeking damages in court over its failed deal.

(Reporting by Paritosh Bansal; Editing by Andre Grenon)