ZURICH—Roche shareholders voted overwhelmingly on Friday to support the $20.7 billion deal to buy Novartis’s nearly one third voting stake, the Swiss drugmaker said. Roche held an extraordinary general meeting to settle matters related to its plan to disentangle the two pharma companies, both based in Basel, who had been linked by the investment for two decades. Shareholders approved the audited statutory interim financial statements of the company as of 31 October 2021 with a majority of 100.00 percent, Roche said. They also backed the plan to cancel the 53.3 million shares bought, with a majority of 99.85 percent. Therefore, the corporate law requirements for the repurchase have been satisfied, Roche said. The closing of the repurchase transaction is expected to take place in early December 2021. “Today’s resolutions of the Extraordinary General Meeting are in the best economic and strategic interest of Roche,” said Roche Chairman Christoph Franz. “As …