There would be an ulterior motive involved and I'm suspicious of...

There would be an ulterior motive involved and I'm suspicious of it given PEO's past history of not giving a stuff about small shareholders. The aim may be to further concentrate ownership in the hands of a few people who can then run the company more like a privately owned company according to deals done in private. The ultimate plan may be for John Ilhan to buy the company turning it into a private company as cheaply as possible by getting rid of the small shareholders as a first step. Whatever the case they would be legally obliged to offer it to all shareholders and I’m betting the major shareholders would not take up the offer.