That’s what I think too. Imo it goes something like this: mgmt...

That’s what I think too. Imo it goes something like this: mgmt had another exit plan and parked the cap return paperwork to ATO in the interim while working on this, all the while retaining paid staff who would presumably continue under a new owner or $ benefit from a buyout transaction.

But then, for whatever reason, the final valuation premium simply wasn’t going to fly in terms of minority shareholder protections (i.e. for us). So mgmt has been forced to revert to the originally announced/still live cap return focus, while the acquirer (or their below-threshold proxies) is doing one of two things now - either offloading the stakes they had been quietly accumulating to fully walk away, or driving down the price now to buy more so that the deal is reheated and a final valuation premium looks more acceptable to us when finalised.

Just a wild guess, all imo, dyor.