This "block a takeover" does not sound right. First, there is a...

This "block a takeover" does not sound right. First, there is a clause in L&M's deal with BRL. I don't remember the exact details, but in the event of a takeover, the L&M people get a 5 to 20% ownership in BRL immediately. That is a huge deterrent to any would be buyer. Second, there is still the matter of the L&M court case. No buyer will bother to try to buy BRL given this contingent liability. Third, any would be buyer is needlessly taking an execution risk in the Canada project. Why not wait a little while all the ts have been crossed and i been dotted?

By buying 11% of BRL, Talley's has effectively taken over 35+6.5=41.5% of Stockton. Maybe their objective is to get to 51% of Stockton...which would need a lot more buying. To get to 51% of Stockton, they would need to get to 225 million shares in BRL. So they would need to buy another 115 million shares. I have no idea what their logic is...but it does suggest there is some room to add BRL.

My guess is that this was not any takeover attempt, but simply an easy financial decision thrown their way. Someone wanted to dump 100 million shares...and logically went to Talley's, as no one else was willing to buy BRL to that degree.