No, Oogee, I do not think this was a red herring.

Let us calculate: The first bid for ANAD was 0,35 USD/share. With a dilluted share count of about 88 Million the transaction would have cost 33 Million USD. Befor any bidding war.
My guess is that POET already at this time had someone at hand to help and finance. A TIR1? Using another company to stay in the background... GaAs is a financing construct!

Gaas Labs is focused on providing the financing and operational expertise necessary to help grow the next generation of world-class companies addressing communications semiconductor and related markets. We are looking to partner with outstanding entrepreneurs and management teams to increase portfolio companies' growth trajectory, profitability and market leadership.

But OK, let us stop now, possibly future will tell us, as FJ seid, once a book was written.