Of course all of us who are shareholders who would have a substantial capital gain would much prefer the receipt of shares (ideally of a dividend paying corporation).

I was, a number of years ago, a very early shareholder of a company which I worked for. I got in on the ground floor and went through a significant share split process and ended up receiving a substantial dividend on shares (greater than my pension income) for which I had a very low capital cost (or in Canadian parlance Adjusted Cost base).

Unfortunately the then major shareholder chose to sell out for cash (rather than shares) and I had no way to shelter  my substantial capital gain. I ended up having to sell my shares and pay substantial tax, then having to invest the substantially depleted funds into other investments which paid much value as dividends.

I certainly hope the case here, if there is a sale, will be for shares and i can carry forward the cost base and collect dividends without having to sell any more of the resultant shares than I wish to get cash for in order to invest wisely in Wine Women and Song.