That is not correct. My understanding is that until the bid goes unconditional the bidder is unable to operate legally in the mkt. However, it has been known that at times the bidder will have a quiet chat with certain funds that are deemed to be friendly and will have them accumulate on their behalf. What will hopefully happen is as follows - once the Chinese party gets the sign off from the powers in Beijing they will alter the terms of the bid to allow unconditionality to kick in at 50.1% rather than the 90% level that is currently one of the requirements. At this stage they will be deluged with stock and the whole game will be over within a matter of a day or 2.
Robbo
IRN Price at posting:
96.2¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
