Interesting, Lopez. I am an old cynic at heart and find it hard to believe the (almost) simultaneous Lepu investment and the t/o offer were pure, unadulterated coincidence.
There must have been a reasonably decent period of time from initial 'hard offer of intent' from Merck to the t/o announcement. Such a transaction isn't signed off by any party over the course of a couple of days, particularly not Merck (from what I know of their culture, this would have been a decision many months in the planning).
My guess tells me Malcolm and the board had to have been some part way through this process when Lepu turned up. Maybe they mentioned it and maybe they didn't - depending on how tight Merck wanted to run the transaction. Either way, I would have thought its the kind of scenario that would raise any regulators eyebrows. If there were any. Which there aren't.
VLA Price at posting:
$1.69 Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
