Atlantic Power – Counter-bid?

Today, Atlantic Power had trades above US$3.03 (the proposed cash merger price):

At 11:04am (pacific time) somebody pumped in an order for 400k shares.

Although I have expressed my doubts at the feasibility of a counteroffer scenario, we will see. The past couple trading days saw the stock trading at a relatively high merger arbitrage (roughly 3-4% for a half year) and I was expecting this to close a little. However, trades above the US$3.02 point are highly suggestive that somebody is gambling on a superior bid coming.

I haven’t sold any of my shares since the initial merger announcement.

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Fingers & toes crossed !

I don’t think we’ll see a counter offer necessarily but probably a shareholder suggesting the price is too low which could result in a bump. Presumably after the management circular is filed.

Sacha…there’s an interesting SA article on AT prefs called atlantic-power-preferred-shareholders-should-vote-against-proposed-takeover-unless-better………..
not sure how the paywall works….maybe you can link it.

Main question is can the prefer holders kaibosh the deal by voting no – or can the transaction still proceed just leaving the prefer outstanding – in which case they’ll lose out big time.