If IVA made a bid for the shares now, they wouldn't necessarily...

If IVA made a bid for the shares now, they wouldn't necessarily have to renegotiate the CCP sale to xstrata anyway. There may well be a clause saying the deal is void on a majority change in ownership, but that can easily be waived by both parties.

Whether IVA make a bid pre vs post the CCP sale comes down to 2 key considerations in my mind:

1. Which yields the best tax outcome for IVA
2. Whether they think the shares are more undervalued now or after the cash is distributed.

In relation to the second, every day the SP falls and edges closer to the cash backed amount of 62c must make an imminent takeover more appealing.

In relation to the first point, well it's impossible to tell without doing full DD on IVAs position. They may well have tax losses they can utilise for all we know, or might not fully benefit from a franked dividend.