See my reply to our post on the DRM HC blog - having looked harder at the DRM assets it seems that they may have good ground that can be profitable sustainably if developed .... why else would SLR's Cool Hand drive such a deal? Equally, why would a cash hungry DRM agree to being the junior partner in a merger if it didn't think SLR had quality assets that could continue to be productive & profitable long term, and that would continue to produce very valuable cash surpluses ? The only hope for both sets of shareholders is some form of corporate action to engineer a massive re-rate to resuscitate the SP and hence allow less pain on exit. Dividends (for shareholders) if ever they occur, are likely to years away.
I bet institutions are also fed up with SLR's SP performance and institutions would have given the thumbs up to both BOD's. But broader institutional buying will not occur until the much bigger (de-risked) Silver Doray is a reality.
Merger or not the BOD & staff will still get big remuneration. If DRM escapes the net, SLR will not be that fussed. It has announced its on the prowl for the right deal, and its cash (and its tax losses) will be a strong lure for value hunters and would be company makers.
