Oneliner's Scotia Holdings plc thread

Back after the break to lots of red on the screen, but waiting until the weekend to do a summary of yearly damage.
Onliner's rope (lots of threads put together) is useful, A couple of uninformed points.
1) IMHO I can't see that the depressed price is a result of shorting, although I know absolutely sod all about the technicalities of this. The price is so far gone (cap of not many million) that I can't see anyone trying to finesse a lower price to scoop a lot of shares up. At present, you are basically buying an option or placing a bet, on Scotia surviving in some commercial sense.
2) I would be surprised if les garcons in Brussels outlawing dawn raids; I've not seen any such legislation when scanning official output, admittedly looking for other subjects. The Commission may be regulating disclosure levels or cross-holdings, but the concept of requiring companies to gentlemanly let everyone else know they're planning to try and take over company x, if anyone would like to buy some shares for a guaranteed quick profit, strikes me as being madder than a herd of carnivorous cows... I also cannot immediately see how you formulate a legal basis that would differentiate dawn raids from other purchasing activities. There are also many other issues of corporate ownership and access to information that would be far more worthy of attention, as some of practices in takeovers on some continental bourses (where the target has more or less chosen which bid it accepts) would be classed as illegal in the UK. They are certainly anitcompetitive, which is one of the main reason for enacting legislation.
I'm surprised that there has been no evident sign of stakebuilding in Scotia given the level of the price; it might be that the liability associated with the bond issue is large to the extent that it is better to wait and cherry pick whatever is salvagable if the co. goes to the wall.
I still hold Scotia, and may increase.
Alea jacta est...
Max the Pauper