takeover bid matter of when not if, page-24

Hi Swap,

I was one of those holders that decided to bow out of all my holdings in CNP at 50 cent sale price (allowing me to break even albeit the interest foregone). In hindsight, I feel like this was the most appropriate thing to do now. There are a few things that bothered me with the announcement and the surrounding media hype around Centro. Here are some of my issues:

1. In the announcement prior to the 15 Dec extension ann Centro said that it had "substantively" taken care of its refinancing issues (bar the 200mil German issue). It turned out that there was an even bigger issue with the CBA that needed to be sorted out. For me, this raised some ethical issues surrounding the company.

2. I have a theory that there are some high stakes competitors that are trying to bring the shopping giant down and doing this with the help of some of Centro's bigger lenders. This is pure speculation and I have no solid proof it's an opportunistic period in time a competitor to do this.

3. Following on from point 1. and the ethical issues that eminate from it I am finding it harder and harder to read into the May deadline. If it truely is what they say it is, then "yes" the market has definately overreacted.

4. The end of May deadline had a very clear and ominous warning about what will happen if Centro doesn't meet those requirements. I felt that the market would've reacted adversely to this the same way I did when I first saw it and that's why I sold the whole lot when it opened after the TH.

I appreciate your analysis tremendousely and would be very grateful for any insights (from Swap&Co and others) on what I've posted here.

On a positive note, I am still looking at Centro and may change my mind as time reveals more.