Likely explaination for the selling is that the takeover crowd are happy to dump at 5 and buy back at 5.5. While effectively paying the higher 6 cents a share for a very small portion of the company, it ensures that they will have the numbers for the takeover to proceed. This assumes that the 5 cent buyers are all focused on the quick 10 percent, which is probably a safe bet. I imagine that this strategy was part of the contingency when the 5.5 cent price was pitched.