At their annual meeting in Amsterdam today, Euronext shareholders have overwhelmingly voted against a merger with Deutsche Borse.

The vote is seen as sending a clear message to the New York Stock Exchange that it is in pole position to secure the tie-up it seeks.

In a snub for hedge fund investors, who have been calling for a merger with the German exchange, nearly 44 million shares were cast against a proposal tabled by Winchfield Holdings. This represents 54 pc of the votes cast by investors.

Times Business (London) notes: “The vote, which is non-binding, followed a tense morning during which it appeared initially that an offer tabled by Deutsche Börse was worth €8.6 billion (£5.6bn) — higher than yesterday’s confirmed €8 billion proposal put forward by the NYSE. Euronext executives were quick to rebut this idea, arguing that the Borse’s cash and shares proposal — based on the three-month weighted average of Euronext’s share price — was worth only €6.5 billion.”

Euronext management claimed the vote as a victory, having already stated that its preferred merger partner is the NYSE. It has, however, not yet formally signalled its acceptance of the U.S. bid.

Serge Harry, Euronext’s finance director, denied it had received a better offer from Deutsche Borse: “This is the same offer we received over the weekend and which was fully considered by the board yesterday. The figures presented by Deutsche Brse are based on the closing price of yesterday, which is misleading because the proposal is based on the three-month volume weighted moving average prior to the signing of the business combination agreement.”

The Times also revealed that the London Stock Exchange has pulled out of three-way merger talks with Euronext and the NYSE, apparently because of the complications and costs involved.