With their vote to support Bright's loan, and then the settlement of disputes with Synlait, it seems a lot less likely they will make any takeover play for Synlait or Dunsandel. It's also been pretty clear Bright is prepared to double down on Synlait as well. I am with @minimoke in that I think any opportunity they had is probably gone now.
That said, I'm not sure how Synlait raise the level of funds needed without either Bright or A2M increasing their respective ownership stakes. And from what I can recall, neither can do so without making a formal takeover offer. So the challenge for Synlait management I guess would be to raise sufficient external funds so that Bright and A2M can inject the capital without either diluting or increasing their stakes. If they can't, A2M might get one last chance to make some kind of play e.g. a takeover offer or extracting concessions in return for supporting Bright.
It is a bit of a stretch, but I could see having $1B in your purse as protection until they see through Synlait's recapitalisation. You could argue they are more vulnerable during this process without that cash pile.
"personally do you want to live with a mortgage and a credit card or do you aspire to have cash in the bank? Microsoft hoarded cash and financed growth organically. many great companies do that to avoid being an over leveraged synlait"
As someone with both, I think it's a bit of a false dichotomy. They can do both and more. They could return each year's annual profits to shareholders, use the existing cash for acquisitions and investments and / or take on short term debt if needed or when that makes more sense. Using Synlait as a reference point isn't a great guide IMO!
A2M Price at posting:
$5.70 Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
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