Re the share price adjusting down by the value of the dividend,...

Re the share price adjusting down by the value of the dividend, that is an unknown. I have been investing through my SMSF for 8 years with emphasis on dividend yielding shares. Seldom does a share adjust down by the exact amount of the dividend, sometimes falling even more, sometimes less and sometimes going up within weeks. Some sectors are more predictable than others. I had a look at APA's chart and around the last ex-Div date (Dec 23), it hit a high of 6.25, went down, stabilised and by mid February had moved a lot higher as it broke out of a trading range. So while some might discount it in balancing one bid against the other, I consider it an important element as based on past behaviour post-div, holding for another 2 or 3 months would see it bounce back.

My gut instinct is telling me that CKI might be making this not entirely in hopes of buying ENV, but more likely to 1)get a higher price and 2)pressure APA to change their offer so that they can take all cash and exit. The reason I think this is that the 1.32 is predictable, it is the number at the top of the assessed range. A serious offer would have been higher to convincingly trump APA's offer.

Of course the bidding might well continue and no one ever opens with their highest offer.

Either way, a bidding war is a good thing for investors. Congratulations to all who held and kept the faith. If CKI is successful, I can take my cash and invest back into APA, as I had bought ENV as a backdoor in. APA has no chance at success unless they come back with a changed offer, which has to be more flexible and hopefully higher.

It's all good, either way.