TacticsThere is obviously no chance that MSD shareholders will accept the current offer given the current share price. That price reflects a bidding premium, i.e that WIN will make an increased offer. I suspect that WIN went into this anticipating a rejection of its first offer and has priced it accordingly. My guess is that they were originally prepared to go to $40.
However the Core transaction has changed the valuation criteria and therefore all bets are off. WIN will have been revising its number crunching to take into account a) the recently published financial report and b) the Core "acquisition". This will have resulted in a more relevant valuation which may, and probably has, dictated a higher offer price must be tabled to get the deal done. In all probability it may be too pricey to sell to WIN shareholders as it will require a combination of debt and (further) dilution.Thus my preference is that WIN should simply let the current offer die on the vine. As the deadline approaches the bidding premium will start to wither away and the MSD sp will retrace ( and I am assuming that no other suitor comes out of the woodwork in the interim). Psychologically, this will work to WIN's advantage and may create a climate that sets up a more favourable buying opportunity, if not this month perhaps a few months from now.
Thus my wish is that JS plays a waiting (poker) game.