RE:RE:RE:Valuation AttemptsAvalon,
There are certain protections aimed at ensuring that minority shareholders are treated fairly and equally. It gets complicated.
All the big M&A legal firms publish guides. Here's a useful one:
Public Company M&A Guide: Canadian Public Companies (osler.com) I was once invested in a public small cap that was taken public at what I considered to be a way too low price. They had an "independant" fair value assessment from a very small firm and it was full of significant caculation errors. I voiced my concerns to the board in writing as well as the major shareholder and just got the brush off.
I considered taking legal action however I decided against it as I only owned about 1% of the company and it wasn't enough money to justify the time and dollars that would involve.
As you noted, it's really an issue of confidence in the board and management.