Agreed hilling. Market is calling it a stalemate at the...

Agreed hilling. Market is calling it a stalemate at the moment.

Will MAK get an independant expert opinion? They were happy to call for UCL to roll over on the Grant Thornton report when it finally called the 1 for 1.3 offer fair and reasonable. UCL is calculating that their offer for MAK is equivalent to 1 for 1.25 under the MAK offer and thus slightly more fair and reasonable. On the logic of MAK's call for UCL to rollover , MAK should now acquiesce to the takeover.

We all understand that the logic of the MAK's call was to serve the purposes of that offer thus they will not agree to this one. However to back their argument up with facts they should get an indepenant report of their own. With that comes 2 risks; firstly that the expert might initially recommend it and then, if not, secondly that UCL use such a report to put up an offer the expert would have to recommend. Then MAK would be in a bit of a bind as they would not have any consistent argument to recommend refusal. UCL always had the argument on dilution of Sandpiper but that is covered in their reverse offer. Perhaps dilution in Wonarah but they are countenancing an immediate 50% dilution with NMDC.

I think the UCL offer will probably ultimately fail too but i rate it a better chance than MAKs as it has the stronger arguments on side, particularly re Sandpiper and, probably more importantly, is prepared to make cash part of the deal.