Maybe I am looking at this the wrong way, but it seems to me...

Maybe I am looking at this the wrong way, but it seems to me that opening your books to multiple bidders is more likely to create a bidding war than only giving access to one.
As it stands, the other interested parties will have to wait and see what offer is made, and then make their own (higher) conditional offer to be granted access to the books.
Probably a strategic reason for doing this - not sharing too much IP with potential competitors, but the way ST is positioning it, appears that QIP Management are playing favorites.