Wanted to jump in earlier guys but been busy.My thoughts on the...

Wanted to jump in earlier guys but been busy.

My thoughts on the bid.

$1.30 is about 20 cents lower than I thought, but that's life. the interesting thing is that the bid is for railway only. What happens to the other assets? If my understanding of corporate law is correct (and it is a little loose at times) then a third party will value the assets before they can be transferred/sold. This may be a good thing because maybe they have tangible value to shareholders...don't know, lets see.

I was not overly surprised by the bid value, I think I posted a value of $1.40 via FMG, so I was in the ball park. I'm not surprised by the break fee, the recommendation stc... what surprises me most is agreeing to let BHP match a counter offer. I really found this strange because it is not the Board that agrees to these things, it is the shareholder.

The shareholder decides whether the company is sold, not the Board. the Board can only reccomend. So how does letting BHP match a bid make any sense? The only thing this can do is make any other potential bidder say "why bother"? Why spend the money making an offer (and it does cost money) when the UMC Board has said BHP can match the offer.

I find this very strange indeed. the normal practise would be to recommend a bid in the ABSENCE of a superior offer. Why wouldn't UMC want a bidding war?

That is what I find difficult to understand.

Still holding for now however I think $1.30 is it guys. I can't see why anyone else will bid just to be matched by BHP.

Cheers, Tony.