In case you haven't heard,

CALGARY/TORONTO/ROME — Energy giant Total SA has stirred up Alberta's oil patch with its hostile bid for UTS Energy Corp., moving to boost its growing presence in the oil sands in the belief crude prices will recover and allow it to profit from projects now stalled.

There's lots of news out there on this, but here's some of the more interesting points:

"UTS directors will curse the injustice of a $1.30-a-share bid, as this was a $6 stock not long ago. But cursing will not stop investors from selling. The company will go; we're now waiting for the terms."

"Total has said it needs 67 per cent approval for the takeover, which will stand for 60 days."

....and finally this:

OTTAWA (Dow Jones)--UTS Energy Corp.'s (UTS.T) biggest shareholder plans to reject Total SA's (TOT) C$617 million takeover bid for the would-be oil sands developer, saying the price offered is too low.

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The 67% shareholder approval is the important bit. UTS's biggest shareholder has 10% of the shares, so although they have a say in the matter, they can't block the sale on their own.

So how does this relate to Falcon?

Burlingame has 15.51% of Falcons shares, Avelar has 16.11. Combined thats 31%, which is pretty darn close to the 34% required to block a buyout.

The percentages have probably dropped a little since Falcon issued more shares in the meantime, but all those shares went to PetroHunter, so the overall effect is the same.

Anyway, my point being that if there was an offer put in for Falcon, we don't need to worry about retail shareholders selling out for 50 cents. The buyer would have to offer a price that Igor and Burlingame are happy with. I'm sure these guys know exactly what the Mako assets are worth...and I hope it's a lot more than 50 cents :)