"So close, yet so far! It’s only a 12-minute walk from...

"So close, yet so far! It’s only a 12-minute walk from Australian Ethical’s Pitt Street headquarters to the chambers of long-time M&A target Future Super – but oh boy has it stretched out into a Sisyphean journey.

Future Group founder Simon Sheikh. Street Talk can reveal Australian Ethical, capitalised at $591 million on the ASX, came within inches of agreeing terms to acquire Future Super in recent days.

Sources said its Steve Gibbs-chaired board went as far as instructing Macquarie Capital to prepare to raise equity to bankroll the deal last week as talks progressed to plan, before pulling the plug."

Buying FS is a no-brainer for AEF.

We buy FS and we have a future with no competitors. You don't buy it, and we leave a fast growing competitor to grow and grow.

The AEF board in 2035 ought to sue the 2025 board if they can't get this done.

AEF thought FS was a joke in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020...

And now FS is already worth half of AEF. It's not a joke fellas. Let's buy it, reap huge synergies and live in a competitor vacuum for decades.

"Look where the puck is going to be". If AEF doesn't buy it now, I assume FS would list, grow some more, then launch a hostile bid for AEF. If we don't do it - they will.

The message to Steve Gibbs - dude, this isn't even chess - this is checkers.