RE:If no deal therePuma1. From an accounting perspective Cinven cannot "mark down" their investment in CXR and apply that to the gain they made on the sale. UK accounting would require them to crystallize the gain which would require the shares to be sold in an arms length transaction. That trade never happened.
also keep in mind that Cinven are pretty shrewd investors too. They took back shares because they too saw the long term value in taking them back instead of cash. Given the visible earnings and cash flow growth I would doubt that they are sellers anywhere around the current price.
They have a much longer term time horizon than most fund managers and retail investors as their performance is not judged on a quarterly or even yearly basis. Most of their funds have a 7-10 year time horizon and they get judged on the performance of the fund over the life of the fund.
i suspect they share your view that the future looks bright with or without a buy out