why i think investors should hold sdl, page-12

The Board and for that matter SDL don't have the luxury of being able to get away with presenting a deal along the lines of your hypothetical.(I understand why you have written it).
What you have raised as a possibility would be valued as an abject failure by the market, counter parties and deliver the project to stronger parties.
Within 3 months SDL sp will be an outstanding success or a complete bust, there is no scope for being " a little bit pregnant" here.
As I have said before, Noble are all over this ($11B undrawn debt finance, their IO business in disarray due to Indian sourced IO restrictions) - getting 15% off take optionality + 21% indirect for $20m smacks of the Boards last ditch effort. That is not negative, it's factual, I believe SDL have a good chance of getting a Bankable deal done.