I can tell you that Sentient is doing the similar kind of thing to Ivernia right now, with someone pressing the price down for them and then they invest at less cost. Although I might not like the tactics of Sentient or others who play these games, this is the market and it's the only market I know of so I have little choice.

What I do know is that Sentient has more reasons now to be on my side and want the share price higher and this can't be a bad thing for long shareholders.

I also suspect that the shorts probably saw or anticipated this and helped move the price down along with retail investors selling because they were scared. The point being that retail investors will probably try now to reload, some funds will buy more now that Sentient has 19.9% but those shorting may not give up so easily so we will have to see how quickly the share price goes back up. From my perspective I have made my choice with my money, I'm invested for a rise higher.