The question is who bought 167 mil. shares
The question is who bought 167 million shares over two days, excluding Frankfurt and the US over the counter (130 mil yesterday and 37 mil today= TSX plus ATS such as Alpha). All at about the same price of approx. $6.20 per share. That is about 38% of the float, and it was not trading to and fro, because the price remained throughout within a very narrow range.
A few deep pocketed institutions decided to throw in just over one billion dollars (167 mil x $6.20) for a purpose. Obviously they expect the final offer to be significantly higher than the current offer of $5.82 (0.146x $24.34 + $2.26). Are they working on their own?, are they working on behalf of one of the parties?. They are certainly now in the position to make or break any take-over, as they now have more than the 33.334% needed to deprive G from getting 66.67%. They certainly expect to receive more than the $6.20 they paid, much more.
I personally would prefer if no offer succeeds and we keep holding. Probably management would prefer that as well. However, with 167 million shares having changed ownership over the past two days (moving into presumably temporary strong hands) I think that option is no longer available. So let's hope management is able to get us at least $8 a share. Maybe $7 plus a share in "New Osisko" containg the non Malartic assets plus cash = another $1, thus $8 in total.