further bids of between $16 and $20 expected, page-57

Steveman. A few risks to consider.

Peabody walway after due diligance.
MCC reject Peabody on failure to agree terms.
MCC major shareholders (and i think only 1 of them has to disagree with peabodies offer) say no and vote proposal down or block the proposal.
No other companies bid a superior offer.

A few things to remember. Last time xstata were interested in the company there were less share available (17% more approx). When bidding for mcc went above $16 last time, they backed out of it (this is only going form memory and more than happy if somebody has the hard facts to share them), So are they prepared to offer more and have to buy more this time around. I don't know, past form says no....

But hey, I still have a fair position left and i would love them to go north, but just be careful saying $16 is the base, as there have been silier things happen..

good luck and hopefully we get to $18 for yours and mine sakes

nado