without competing bid agm will fall for 1.20, page-23

well yeah some get withdrawn. Some are simply stoogery or the buyer cant really get the money.

Presumably Zinifex DOES have the money and does have a good reason to acquire AGM and is not interested in just wasting peoples' time like some attention-seeking traditional WA spiv might do.

So they are serious.

And if you ARE serious, there are several things you should do.

(a) You could try talking to the target about an agreed bid privately first.
(b) You could make an extravagantly large bid that nobody would refuse.
(c) You could make a lowball bid in the expectation of having to raise it. This has two effects. Firstly, rich opportunists and hedge funds will rush to buy the stock after the first bid, and then sell to the second bid, for a profit on a short-term hold which is attractive to them. Secondly, increasing the bid allows the target company management to accept the second bid without losing face, and take credit with shareholders for holding out for a better deal.
(d) You don't embark with a bid format known to be deeply unpopular in the Australian market.

Zinifex didnt do any of these things. It made neither a low-ball nor a high-ball bid. It made a mid-ball bid which despite a weak market, is not going too well for them. Zinifex are either stupid, or they know something we don't know, or they have been very badly advised.