The assumption you're making is that there would've been enough people willing to sell at less than 30 cents. I doubt this would've been likely. As soon as they'd got 5%, this would be disclosed to the ASX and when people find out they're not the "buy and hold" type of investors the SP would've shot up. Then add in a protracted negotiation period etc and suddenly it will take more time and resources to manage and win the shareholders over to save some money... possibly.
AZZ Price at posting:
27.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held