SHELBURNE, Vt. (AP) – Vermont Teddy Bear Co. shareholders have approved reverting the company to private ownership.

A small group of shareholders gathered Wednesday at the company’s headquarters for what was likely the last time if a merger with a Boston private equity firm takes place as expected by week’s end.

The issue required a two-thirds majority and was approved by 74 percent of voting shares. The 45-minute meeting was attended by about 25 shareholders, board members, employees and representatives of the various firms involved in the deal.

The Vermont company sells bears, pajamas, flowers and food over the Internet and through catalogs. Revenues for the fiscal year that ended June 30 were $66.6 million.

Shareholders agreed to sell their holdings for $6.50 a share. In a deal valued at $50 million, an investment group lead by Mustang Group LLC of Boston will own the company and Vermont Teddy Bear will no longer be publicly traded on the Nasdaq stock exchange. The stock closed Wednesday at $6.40 per share.

The deal could close Thursday. Mustang Group would become majority owner with a 65 percent stake in the company.

The move was spurred by the cost of complying with accounting rules for publicly held companies that were enacted in 2002, known as Sarbanes-Oxley, officials said. The law requires a stricter accounting of finances and was developed in reaction to a rash of corporate scandals at companies including Enron, WorldCom and Global Crossing.

Satisfying Sarbanes-Oxley cost the company more than $300,000 for the fiscal year that ended June 30, and would cost about $600,000 a year for the foreseeable future. That’s too much for a company the size of Vermont Teddy Bear, said Elisabeth Robert, president and chief executive officer.

Vermont Teddy Bear struggled to gain the attention of analysts and investors because it had a small presence in the marketplace and has not maintained a consistent share price above $5, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Just 12 shareholders hold 75 percent of the company’s stock.

Going private could ultimately keep Vermont Teddy Bear safe from a takeover, Robert said.

“Going private, in my view, really increases the probability that the company will remain independent and in Vermont,” Robert said.