Ann: Cooper Accepts TransAtlantic Bid for Increme, page-5

re: Ann: Cooper Accepts TransAtlantic Bid for... Unsurprising to see COE management once again put a positive spin in an unfavourable outcome for their loyal shareholders.

Based on a quick crunch of numbers it seems to me that investors would have been better off selling their COE shares when COE began to move on IPM and buying IPM shares than to hold their COE shares. In other words IPM shares have held up better than COE in the interim - put another way COE management was more prudent in buying IPM shares than COE shares.

Now the question to be asked is how much of COE's price fall in recent months was due to shareholder discomfort with COE's move on IPM and how much was simply a sign of the times? I suspect that COE getting stranded with only 27% of IPM increased the uncertainty and suppressed its share price. And if EL is right and COE's share price moves back towards 40 cents then that probably confirms that COE's IPM adventure was a bad move for its shareholders (but still gave the impression that its management was staying busy enough to earn their keep).

If investors thought that COE management actually had a long-term strategy that would deliver then they could jump from IPM and back into COE for a relative win.

But other than a market cap of $82m and a kitty of $88m (which granted is a good place to be) and a lucky break of being allowed to follow Beach around the Cooper Basin where is their competitive advantage?