Bigal In my view Seven are looking to enter energy market long...

Bigal
In my view Seven are looking to enter energy market long term for the exact reasons you suggest - east coast gas prices. Note today Vic govt extended moratorium in non conventional and coal seem gas exploration until 2020. Thus conventional gas resources are what will supply the market for at least another decade. The prices that stokes entered were robust SP based on the fact the oil price had already fallen a fair bit. So the synergies argument makes sense to me only as a facilitator of the merger, but as you say synergies will not deliver value to justify the investment. The 20% holding also suggest different intentions - he could have influenced both boards with a 10 or 15% holding , the 20% is both a strategic and blocking stake