Round 8: Cermaq Floored by Marine Harvest at AGM

Victory is in sight for salmon farming giant Marine Harvest following a key victory. Cermaq's Annual General Meeting earlier today (21 May) in Oslo, Norway, was a defining moment in Marine Harvest's hostile takeover of Cermaq. Bloomberg/BusinessWeek reported (21 May):

"John Fredriksen crushed Cermaq Board" screamed the headline in the Norwegian tabloid Dagbladet.

"Will swallow Cermaq," continued Dagbladet. "Majority shareholder in Marine Harvest, John Fredriksen, will buy up the state's farming giant and create the world's largest aquaculture company. After the Cermaq meeting today he is one step closer to the dream."

"John Fredriksen got his way on Cermaq AGM today," continued Dagbladet. "He managed to stop Cermaq billion acquisition of the Peruvian feed company Copeinca. This adds John Fredriksen bid this week - and may end up as king of the ocean in the world's largest aquaculture company."

Oceans Domination
- It is almost beyond belief. It is a historic turnout here today, and we won with the largest possible margin. Yes, I hope Fredriksen is satisfied. I think we see the outlines of a world leading company with shareholder value that can be extremely large, said Marine Harvest CEO Ole-Eirik Leroy told Dagbladet."

The Scotsman reported (22 May):

The Fish Site reported (21 May):

Intrafish's front page featured the whopping news:

Intrafish reported (21 May):

Cermaq's CEO and Chairman admitted defeat:

Reuters reported (21 May):

"We just have to accept the shareholder vote," Cermaq Chief Financial Officer Tore Valderhaug said. "We still think (the Marine Harvest) offer is low but it's positive they say they are willing to raise it."

The Wall Street Journal reported (21 May) a press statement issued by Cermaq including:

"The Board expects that Marine Harvest now will present an offer for the shares in Cermaq. Marine Harvest has communicated that such an offer will have a higher price than what has been stated. The Board will thoroughly assess potential higher offers which reflect the underlying values of the company and has a structure which aims to get a broad support from Cermaq's shareholders."