Lothe am I to jump on buffett's band wagon but I would advise...

Lothe am I to jump on buffett's band wagon but I would advise caution here with the dilution answer.

No doubt everyone on this forum understands what dilution means and the nature of hybrids etc. However, the answer Reggie received was no less cryptic that the announcement on December 17.

We already knew this Reggie.

Conversion will be in 7 years time. That's fine. What we don't know is if the conversion is not negotiable and will occur in 7 years time based on a vote on or shortly after 15 Jan 2009.

The crux of teh issue is WHEN the vote for dilution via hybrid occurs. My view based on the cryptic and limited information is that the vote will not occur in 7 years. That's just silly.

The vote would be defeated even if the banking syndicate up to this point owns 14.9% of issued capital.