short selling

This seems to be a classic case of 'naked' short selling.

This practice is generally associated with financings.

The CEO / CFO approaches funds / brokerage firms 'sophisticated investors' (with a wry smile) who will then pummel the stock down to a level way below the current market price when they were approached. They then cover these counterfeit ('naked') shorted shares with the shares they pick up from the financing.

So SBM probably approached these institutions 3-6mths ago, that is when the decline in the share price occurred. It was then in their best interest to get the share price as low as possible through the book build process to:

a) profit on the shorting, and
b) obtain shares at a artificially low price so they can profit on the rebound.

I haven't watched the daily trading screens / nor the institutions that have been engaged in the trading of SBM over the past 3-6 mths but this would be my initial reaction. In addition there have probably been a few characters on the forum that have only been on the SBM for that duration with the only intention of 'bagging' the company who are probably employed by these institutions.

Any comments?