Okay, I'll add my 2 cents worth of what I make of what may have...

Okay, I'll add my 2 cents worth of what I make of what may have happened given available information. 

From the little we actually know it appears FAR were issued with a PE notice that was one page.  Can't imagine that one page would hold a lot of detail.  We know the stated price was $430m which was considered cheap even at the time of the low oil price.  FAR have said they were interested in considering PE but wanted more information to allow them to properly assess it.  So, if the price was simply $430m why would you need more info?  We are left to conclude that there must have been more to it, otherwise it would have been straight forward.  From other statements made I conclude that COP offered FAR the option to buy the company, the same as WPL were doing, but refused to give details about the company.  This may explain why FAR gave examples of saying you wouldn't purchase a company without seeing the books.  I don't believe that this means FAR wanted to buy the company, but reflects what took place.  As we know, this is not what is meant to happen, FAR are meant to be offered the asset with a detailed explanation of how the value is arrived at.  I believe this is why FAR are saying the notice was not compliant, because it didn't give a valuation of the asset, just of the company.

Anyway, just the conclusions I have drawn from trying to apply a bit of logic to the known facts.  I can't think of any other scenario that fits.

Happy new year all.