Well done pcockley, I think you won on the way down and now win again in the finale. Your sense of timing has been superb, I must admit. Well done indeed!
CmonCDR, If I have guessed correctly your name is amongst the top 30 holders. I admire your courage which I see is also mixed with a certain level of fear, which is perfectly understandable considering the size of your holding. Do you seriously think it is proper for a business to play a prank like this via their corporate website :-)?
If you think about what Richard Bacon has been saying and how Christine Connelly and David Nicholson have responded accordingly, and if you also noted what CSC said in their 3rd quarterly result briefing about what NHS wants then you'll see why it makes so much sense for CSC to ensure they win the bid for ISF.
The way the NHS is moving forward is going to change the health IT landscape in the UK so drastically that I don't think CSC can risk allowing iSoft to fall into the arms of a competitor. The departure from the centralized procurement coupled with the change of mentality from rip-and-replace all to the integrate/connect all changes the game significantly. Regarding Lorenzo and the new contract to be re-negotiated, we read from CSC's results briefing that NHS wants flexibility where they do less volume guarantee and have the suppliers do more selling to the trusts. What is happening in parallel is Richard Bacon have asked the NAO to crunch numbers to see which option provides more value: 1) get the software from the LSP or 2) direct from the developer. Although he didn't spell it out, it's evident from the way he questioned Connelly about the price of RiO from the LSP vs non-LSP.
In light of all these, and of the fact CSC must now re-negotiate a new contract with NHS, buying out ISF at this opportune time is the best move for CSC. It would be very interesting if the other bidders decide not to give up just yet.
ISF Price at posting:
5.2¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
