You could be right ... either way I was not game to hold and...

You could be right ... either way I was not game to hold and always thought that the big boys, Vodafone Plc & CK Hutchison were always going to be more concerned by the debt than the equity ... debt holders always wield more power and are higher up in the food chain ... equity holders get what is left over. The fact that they were also major shareholders of VHA is separate. As an insignificant minorty shareholder, this debt always concerned me, but I originally thought (years ago) that neither could screw the other hence I was happy to wait for one to buy out the other write off a portion of the debt - never happened ... but once TPG lobbed the bid, both of these guys have a get out of gaol card with the massive debt burden. It disappears in a puff of smoke (relagated to contingent liabilities in Notes of consolidated accounts) without further lending required to keep VHA going.

No institutions are going to touch HTA due to the poor liquidity and I stand by what I said earlier: interest will decline and this will be an illiquid stock ... I will watch form the sidelines and see how the dividend situation plays out. If by some miracle, over the years, the dividend more than covers the debt servicing cost of VHA, then this could become a value play ... that is too much time, ifs and maybes for me.