what's an acceptable takeover price?

With the current state of affairs, I totally agree with the negative sentiment although it may be unwise to sell at the present time.

Management's failure to act swiftly over the past 2-3 years has left them with no negotiating power at all. Even if they wanted to, it is now too late for them to save this company.

Let's face it, the share price no longer moves in line with company announcements or even global market sentiment. Instead, it gets routinely strangled by bot traders, to the point where a takeover now appears to be the only likely/reasonable outcome. I'm still wondering how 100m shares were recently sold by M&G without any corresponding announcement re: a change in the substantial holding of the buyer/s (whoever they were). Blind Freddie can see that the current buy & sell orders appear to be filled by the same people and recent activity looks typical of hedge funds, with genuine trades in very short supply.

Hopefully this whole charade will soon be over. FIRB approval is due in October and the SEDCO claim appears frivilous, paving the way for a formal offer. The problem for the small investor is that the offer (if and when it finally comes) is likely to still be well below their average purchase price. Personally, I'd accept an offer in the mid-20's...not because it's fair, but because it has sadly become an acceptable figure.

Market cap is currently $143m based on 1.3bn shares at 11c. When you factor in the "$75m cash for 2%" option, NXS can theoretically be 100% owned for a net cost of just $68m. At these prices you would expect plenty of takeover interest, but I suspect that there has only been one potential suitor for some time now. No one else is going to get involved in a bidding war just to have their efforts blocked.

When LDM was appointed, I briefly thought it may have been to facilitate a takeover by Shell due to his previous association with them. Now I'm leaning towards Chinese involvement based solely on the total lack of bidding interest.

Any thoughts?