Your need to research a bit more and you would have uncovered...

Your need to research a bit more and you would have uncovered the reason for the merger. The board member who had Mc Nally's reef named after him had chucked several million at MS. AUL was about to go into administration and his only hope of a return was the takeover. If you look at the timeliness you will note the day the marger went through, iterally minutes later AUL 1/4ly was released showing $3 mil loss that would have almost certainly lead to VA! One if the dodgiest deals I have witnessed on the ASX.
I laughed when he chucked in at the WRM cap raise and people commented on his show of faith. On his track record at AUL is was a continuation of his show of stupidity or he's just so bloody rich he doesn't care.