I have a feeling... that once this deal goes through, be it for the NOT acquisition or the Cliffs, be it after the first round of offers or the sixth, when looking back on this the answer will have been very obvious the whole time - and we just couldn't see it.

So I ask, is there one possibility that stands head and shoulders above the rest as making sense?

Is Pinetree buying up FWR to own a share in Cliffs once the profit of the chromite adds to their bottom line? Not likely... they could, as others have stated, just buy into Cliffs right now with little risk. This doesn't seem to make sense according to their business motto reported above.

OR

Is Pinetree buying up FWR to tender them to NOT? Why would they do this? Do they feel (or have they been courted into believing) that NOT SP will give them their "bagger" if they acquire FWR? This seems like a long shot to me, but what do I know...

OR

Is Pinetree buying up FWR to simply cash in on the potentially higher offers that some feel are right around the corner? If this is the case, what kind of a "bagger" are they looking for? A Two? A Three? This option seems to make the most sense so far.

I personally hope they are in to tender to NOT, but that seems like a strange move... If anyone at Pinetree believes in the K.I.S.S. principle, I doubt they are tendering to NOT. Unfortunately.