Letter Of IntentThere's always a few characters on CEO or other forums that like to create fear or provide misinformation.
The news for the Letter of Intent ("LOI") came out on November 14. The exchange generally requires the company to make an updated announcement to the status of a previously released announcment if 1) an update has not been made, 2) if the exchange has not received the required documentation from the company within 30 days of the announcement or 3) if the transaction has not closed within 90 days after the announcment.
Given that there are strict guidelines governing the timely disclosure of news, the company would need to disclose any Material Information immediately once management becomes aware of the existence of the Material Information. Although it is up to managament to determine what information is considered material in the context of their own affairs, the regulators have a very specific list of about 25 items that the regulator considers Material Information and must be dislosed to the public. And when in doubt the company would/should contact the regulator of that exhange.
The release of Material Information is subject to pre-noticication of the Regulation Service Provider and regardless if the Material Information is considered favorable or unfavorable it is expected to be disclosed promptly and completely.
So with some characters saying that the "LOI" fell through. That information at the time of their comments cannot be true because it would be Material Information and would require an immediate news release by the company. Clearly comments like that are completely false and are used to create fear in the stock. So unless we hear something like that from the company, that would mean the company is still in negotiations in regards to the orginal announcement on November 14. 90 days would give them until February 12 to close the deal before an updated announcement would be required or the company would be required to provide an earlier updated announcement if it did not go through or if the company wanted to comment on any delay and extension. So this should put those false rumors to rest until concrete information is provided.
There are specific situations where Material Information is not required to be immediately released by the company. Some Material Information can be delayed or temporarily kept confidential "if immediate release of the information would be unduly detrimental to the interests of the Issuer". For example, if released information would prejudice the outcome of a transaction or a series of transactions (i.e. an aquisition or merger), or give a competitor a negotiating advantage or information could prejudice the status of ongoing negotiations.
Therefore, it's unecessary for the company to give us updates on a current status of a negotiation until concrete information is finalized one way or the other.