Interesting to note one of the terms of this deal is a debenture for ECU to gain $15 million cash, payable in shares. This may indicate that ECU was having trouble funding its future even for the next couple of months to allow the transaction to close. Or, it means they are confident the deal will close, and the money will allow ECU to go hammer and tong with development at Velardena, using a debenture format to guarantee the money if it is voted down. Or, it could a form of poison pill to make it more difficult for a hostile party to emerge and upset the apple cart.

I would say that people who feel they have been ripped off should consider the deal in a different perspective. If I stated that ECU was doing a hostile takeover of AUM, getting all of the assets, plus $100 million in cash, in an all-share deal that would probably be considered a huge win. The only difference is that it is the AUM listing that will remain after the transaction, and the shares will be rolled back.

The warrants should trade at a premium to the exercise price, plus time value. There is more than 2 years of time value, and there will be far fewer warrants outstanding after the rollback so that alone should support a higher premium. AUM trades on the TSX so the wrts will have a TSX listing as well.

cheers!

mike