I suppose there are as many ways of looking at this offer as...

I suppose there are as many ways of looking at this offer as there are personal reasons for owning either stock. Judging by the price movements of both companies from the middle of Feb to the time of the ann, it would seem that the inside... err, sorry, the educated information was coming more from the OXR side of things.

I was then surprised to see the savage reaction to the ann on the Ox's sp. After a much closer look I'm happy to stay with my initial gut feeling that it was a reaction to OH not being the boss of the new entity. One wonders for someone who has put his life into this company over the past decade just what he will be doing, and I think most people who've been in the Ox for an extended period probably felt similarly disappointed.

But that is a short term view. Those who were holding OXR as a possible short term takeover target, a scenario that's been rumoured for years, will probably have sold out in the initial sell off.

Those who take the Warren Buffett approach are probably considerably happier. The new entity has a great balance sheet, bulging with cash, conservative debt, a good dividend flow, fully franked in ZFX case and most importantly it now has critical mass. It's my opinion that any scrip based issue from such as NCM would be blown out of the water before it got to first base. Quite simply, I think the holders of both OXR and ZFX consider their companies a superior bet to NCM.

The prospect of a huge % increase in short term SP for either company has probably decreased, but in the longer term when the merged identity will be a national and probably international powerhouse, I think we will all look back at current prices and wonder why we didn't back up the truck.