I can only offer my opinion as I can't speak for every single holder that has bought and sold and say definitively why they traded at a particular price.
My guess is that it is a combination of factors. One, being some were in it only for the short term. Betting the transaction would go through and they would get a return based on that. Abandoning the deal means that the time it will take to realise value is clearly going to be longer and a lot more uncertain. Uncertainty itself is another reason. Although the board believes it to be worth more than $300 mil, they could simply be wrong.
Debt is a huge risk and the risks stemming from this is that at some point they may no longer be able to access it and also not have enough cash flow to continue. Debt itself also is a cost, so over time this also erodes value for shareholders.
So even if the asset is worth more than $300 mil, a big uncertainty is how long it will take for someone else to make an offer, if ever? It's just a question of the whether the potential value over the $300 mil is worth all the theses risks. I doubt the board would have abandoned the deal if they thought they could just squeeze a few more pennies out so the potential upside should be quite large, but commensurate with that, the risks are also big.
AZZ Price at posting:
53.5¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
