Everyone RelaxFirst, I thought the prior post was very good.
If everyone could look at the prices for Roger (CL.b), TELUS (NV), and BCE since the beginning of December 2007, you'll see that TELUS is down 12 percent, Rogers is down 13, and BCE is somewhere in between. In short, I don't believe the market price for stock is especially telling of the status of the deal.
That said, you would expect the stock to be somewhat impervious to market risk because $42.75 is on the table, right? I would, but in this case, I'm not so certain.
My view has nothing to do with the availability of loans to complete the deal. The company has lots of assets, great cash flow, room to reduce costs. As long as banks continue to exist, these are the kinds of loans that they should make.
The major hurdles outstanding are bondholder and CRTC. These are time-driven events that will happen with good notice in the future. In the interim, I think its logical to expect the stock to continue to trade in consort with market conditions and its peers. That may cause some nervousness for some, but it doesn't underscore any changes in either the quality of the asset being bought or its attractiveness to those buying it.