Cermaq, the fishing company from Norway, has failed to garner the sufficient number of votes necessary to approve the purchase of Copeinca, the Peruvian fish feed maker. This would allow Cermaq to be open for a takeover bid from competitor Marine Harvest.

While there was a majority that supported the deal to purchase Copeinca, the deal needed a two thirds majority support in order to be validated. The result caused the jump in share values as the shareholders are now expecting that Marine Harvest would again seek to purchase the company through a better deal.

Marine Harvest, the largest fish farmer in the world, had said earlier that it would be willing to bid for Cermaq at US$1.7 billion or more if they dropped its bid for Copeinca which was worth US$730 million.

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

Share prices for Cermaq rose to 110 crowns per share soon after the shareholder vote. This is well above the bid of Marine Harvest worth 105 crowns. When Marine Harvest said it would sweeten its bid, its own shares rose by 3%.