it makes sense to short a stock before you take it over because you don't have the risk of being squeezed out unless someone else outbids you.
Do you have to declare your interest in shorted stocks ie if entity A shorts more than 5% of a stock?
If not, then it would be the perfect strategy. Short the stock for about 20% of issued stock, pushing the price down and bringing new investors on board.
Make a bid that will look attractive to recent buyers and you can tell the existing shareholders that it is at a premium of X.
I would imagine this would work a treat to get a significant number of acceptances very quickly.
That being said, it could just be traders wanting to short a stock!!
BOW Price at posting:
97.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
