 Fjord continued to conduct mergers and acquisitions - the purchase of Belgian fish-processing company Pieters N.V. in November 2000 was swiftly followed by the addition of ContiSea, the seafood joint-venture of ContiGroup and Seaboard Corporation.As with Pan Fish, poor market conditions saw Fjord's share price worsen dramatically in 2001, and with it the ability to pay off its debts.The company's future was only secured thanks to a NOK 700 million bail out from major shareholders that September.