Bertelsmann, the owner of Random House, and Pearson, the owner of Penguin, disclosed the merger in October, saying that Bertelsmann would control 53 percent of the company and Pearson 47 percent.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed; the merger is expected to complete in four months.
The S.E.C. said Mr. Putnam knew HBO's financial results were inflated by inappropriate accounting methods that, when disclosed after the merger, caused McKesson HBOC Inc., as it was known, to lose $9 billion in market value and its stock to fall 47percentt.
The merger, disclosed by the companies, was made possible after a settlement with the New York attorney general's office last week that allows Willis and two other big brokerage firms, Marsh & McLennan and the Aon Corporation, to acquire smaller firms that still collect contingent commissions.
Cable and Wireless HKT and Singapore Telecom said their own merger talks, disclosed three weeks ago, were still in progress.
The probable reason, some analysts said, was that Corel's deteriorating financial health, disclosed soon after the merger announcement, was as big a shock to Inprise/Borland as it was to other investors.
Mr. Schreiber also says the risk of cultural clashes between the companies is limited, because the merger partners disclosed publicly where top executives would stand in the combined company only a few weeks after the deal was announced.
AT&T's true motives for pursuing the merger were disclosed earlier this month when the company mistakenly released unredacted confidential documents it filed with the FCC.
But AT&T's true motives for pursuing a merger were disclosed last week when the company mistakenly released unredacted, confidential information it filed with the FCC, according to press reports.
