strange announcement?

Hmmm. Anyone else think the pre-announcement from Silex was just a little strange? Here's why I think so anyway.

If the announcement is 'a few' weeks away why do you bother putting out a pre-announcement?
To reassure stockholders? Nah. A couple of weeks wouldn't make much difference, esp. to those who've been waiting years. But if the deal in some way involves the new partner buying equity in SLX and you need to protect the shareprice, maybe that's exactly what you do.
This morning it looked like going under $3 so maybe?!

Another possibility that occured to me (although I think SLX management are far too professional for this) is maybe you're negotiating with an interested party and you're trying to reach a favorable agreement on price. What to do? Maybe announce publically you've got 2 interested parties and a deal is close? Hmmm.

Even accepting the announcement at face value. The fact that they made one, kind of suggests that the work that still needs to be done in selecting a preferred partner and then signing agreements, means a few weeks could be as many as six.

Just my best guess. Hope I'm wrong.
What do others think?