JMO but if 1/5 is the deadline they have till 1/5 at midnight to inform us of anything. There is no legal definition for "in advance".
You have to ask "who benifits" in any situation. In this situation who would benifit from waiting till the last min?
Hedge funds would for sure. Retail will get scared and easily talked out of their shares and sell for write offs. This would/is cause a huge amount of pressure on the bid. The pps in late December would be pathetic without a single peep. Then the hedge funds and/or KKR could buy up shares at a fraction of today's pps.
But WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "A" merger HAS TO BE COMPLETE and signed by the 31rst of DEC, REMEMBER the BOD's that lef,t WON'T BE VESTED unless a deal is consummated with in 6 months of their departure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!