cwallace. Excellent post. It really puts things into perspective. It also reminds me of something that most were 'complaining about' but not thinking with their head about...
You posted,"cwallace
yes, the merged company could have a market cap north of $3.5 Billion if a major could justify 2 million tonnes at the price these guys are quoting... and then heaven forbid, any premium for the reason we are all here in the first place,.... the nickel."
Now, here is my "silly" thinking...
Who would you rather have on your companies BOD??? Nicey nice Mr. Watson or a spit and fire backstabbing duo who ousted our Precious Mr. Nemis? Let's look at the "hindsite" evidence. You know what they say, hindsite is 20/20, so...
It appears that Freewest the company, with the blessings of the President and BOD, will be bought out for $1/share. What is the value for the company? There are 2 different scenarios for that question. First scenario is, what does the company have for assets/saleable commodities or services... Second scenario is, what is someone willing to PAY for those assets/saleable commodities or services...
Now, with my hindsite firmly in place, I look at the Retail of Freewest and I see them rallying behind their "Commander in Chief" and yelling the battle cry,"Viva Freewest, Death to the Noront infidels!" (In a COMPANY meaning, not actually killing somebody). Again, with my hindsite firmly in place, I look at how this merger/buyout has played to date and how the Freewest "Brass" has conducted themselves in this situation... My opinion is that they get a failing grade. Why? Because they failed to bring the 2 scenarios for the company's value a little closer together... And of course blaming Noront in the process for initiating it all (nice tactical move, that one... NOT).
OK, so, let's play "what if" for a moment... What if Noront is successful and actually gets a 51% of the shares tendered to them...... Hmmmm. I see a crafty, businesslike team of (like them or not, trust them or not) business people who are trying to make a lot of money here. For who??? Does it really matter if they are looking out for themselves? If they are not allowed to dilute the sharebase to a couple of billion shares, then what would the payout for ALL the properties be if these shrewd, no BSing guys were to sit in a room with some cliffs folks and keep telling them,"NO, you are NOT getting the FreeNot company for $2-3/share, it doesn't matter if you promise to make a mine or not!!!)
I think there is a bit of merit to a Robert Friedland kind of mentality when dealing with "majors", as MY hindsite looking at the events of Freewest is showing ME. It seems that Good Guys finish Last. Is this the way Mr. Watson wanted it??? Who knows. We will probably NEVER know. And, we will never likely find out what "could have been". I am a bit saddened by this turn of events. It is my belief that a merged company could have had a tremendously higher upside potential, but we will probably never find out... Divide and Couquer... Well played, Cliffs, Well played. You deserve to get Freewest for a song. To have played the shareholders as you have, with full support of Freewest Management, my admiration to you... It was always up to the Freewest shareholder to make the decision, and you seem to have swayed their emotions very well.
As for Freewest Shareholders, Congratulation are in order. You have just gone from 20some cents to a dollar. That is a FANTASTIC return on your investment, and in only a few months... Well done. You won't have to wait for a year or so for the rest of the Ring to play itself out, you are already in the money. Good for you.
Now, my only other comment is for Milsy... Is there any way we can "segregate" our Long Time Noront Shareholders from those Freewest ones who are contemplating selling their Freewest and "buying back into the Ring" with their "profits" when we are relaxing on our sunny Beach in the Tropics??? I think there should be a line in the sand where Noront supporters through thick and thin should be allowed to go and the Freewest supporters can just stay on their "own side of the line"... Of course, we will be civil to them and speak with them, we just don't want them "smugly gloating" and walking around talking about all their profits that they made at the expense of Noront's bid for them...
Have a really great day, everyone, and God Bless all Noront and Freewest shareholders.
Herb :-}
