There has been some very healthy discussion this evening vis a vis a major starting a move on us. Some very reasonable arguments for and against, all of them plausible. I do though call attention to my past posts on this subject; Namely that there will be no takeout until there is some serious amalgamation. There is simply no way that a major will decide to take out, say, NOT or FWR, on a one only basis. From a business point of view it would not make sense. If they took out NOT, for example, the share price of FWR, SPQ, FNC and PRB would immediately skyrocket. And if they took out one of them they would have to take out the rest before spending money on infrastructure. If they did not the rest of them would know that all they had to do was wait it out. My prediction in this matter remains that when you see the players start to seriously discuss an amalgamation of some sort, you will know a buyout is in the works, not before.

Regards

K