Sadly I think that the pool of potential suitors will be fairly...

Sadly I think that the pool of potential suitors will be fairly low. They need to deal with the Auto bus, getting rid of the forestry assets, and the jewel would then be the rural business. The complexity of a takeover is very significant.

i think for this very reason the takeover rumour is just that. Get rid of forestry and the complexity is reduced considerably. A buyer will not pay much if they still need to sort it all out. The SP would be higher already if ELD could easily be taken over. The lack of viable takeover is factored in.

The bits are worth more than the whole at the moment. The benefit of this to current holders is that this premium can start to creep in once forestry is gone. Also if an offer for auto comes out of the blue - the same applies. So I expect two rounds of value to be realised by the market. First any continuation of the turnaround in EBITDA with forestry flogged off. Then some sort of "pre" take-over premium factored in.

Just my opinion.