ppup, looks like the only reason you would do a share...

ppup, looks like the only reason you would do a share consolidation in the lead up to a possible take over is to trick the people who didn't realise a consolidation had just occurred into thinking their shares had gone up in value by market movement alone and hence sell their shares immediately post consolidation creating more volume for the wannabe take over party to acquire at the lowest possible price. Look for an increase in volume after the consolidation and your theory could be right. I very much doubt it though as the management could end up in jail and the trades could be forcibly reversed if it was proven.

I think the motivation is nothing more nothing less than what was expressed in the ASX release on 1 December 2010.

I still don't understand why they haven't sold any of their properties yet or shown any evidence of having tried to sell any of their properties despite announcing on 22 September 2009 (16 months ago) a revised business strategy that included an orderly sale of assets over a 2 to 4 year period. They should at least be held accountable for explaining why they seemingly haven't attempted to implement their revised strategy.

The share consolidation (which costs money to undertake) makes no sense at all unless they have changed their revised strategy.