a good sign for the to perhaps

Morning,

Stones latest holding has them at approx 158M shares. They have continued buying post their application to the TO Panel. The need to top 160M shares in CRE to be sure to have 10% post conversion of the convertible notes and options by FML.

Is Stone's continued buying actually a potentially good sign for the TO to remain unconditional and proceed?

I say this because Stone seems to be hedging their bets.

On the one hand, they lodged application with the TO Panel refuting the voting rights of certain "associates" at the CRE AGM to approve the convertible notes and options.

On the other hand, they are still buying more to presumably top the 160M shares needed to have more than 10% of CRE if the convertible notes and options are approved and no action is taken by the TO Panel.

I realise they are covering their bases, however, it may be a good sign that they are not confident of a positive response from the TO Panel. In that case, why are they even bothering to continue to gather more shares to go over 10% as the offer would be unconditional in any case. This means that 10%, 5% or 20% held by Stone would be useless in blocking the TO unless they have a last card to play.

If the TO Panel declines this application, and unless some ace is drawn from the sleeve by Wednesday this week, then this is all over bar the shouting. Stone would be a major shareholder in FML. Nothing more and nothing less.

Any thoughts?