They don't need to borrow the money to take the company private...

They don't need to borrow the money to take the company private - that's a management buyout. Taking the company private simply means the company's shares will no longer be traded on the ASX. The biggest downside (and the two biggest reasons why a company goes public) is the ability to issue new shares to a wider audience when raising new capital, and the liquidity of the shares. Just because we don't need to raise capital now doesn't mean circumstances won't change in the future (unknown unknowns - eg. OH is a resounding success and we want to accelerate its development by drilling 5 concurrent production wells), and taking the company private also means to find buyers for our shares can be extremely tricky and price discovery will be even less efficient than the public market. It's a big deal and as such, will require shareholder vote and a decent window to allow an orderly exit for those who doesn't want to hold shares in a private company. Anyway, this isn't going to happen.

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