Institutions will understand the value of this company if it receives an EMA approval, and that will be far higher than ~$10B. In fact, the Board of Directors have a fiduciary obligation to the shareholders to reject any offer that undervalues the company. I think the institutions have a similar obligation to owners of their funds.
The fact that you were a shareholder in a company that (I assume) had a lesser upside than Anavex holding an AD EMA approval does not set the bar here. I gave the Karuna comp for a reason -- an approved AD drug is worth multiples of that buyout.
Xena. a long time poster on this board (who I've heard is currently under ihub house arrest) was of the mind that large institutional ownership was bad for for some of the reasons you point out. I can see both sides of the argument and as usual I am powerless as to the end result. I'm a "bird in the hand" guy when it comes to AVXL so I'm rooting for a buyout involving cash and shares of the acquiring company next week.
Institutional investors don't push companies to sell. They are extremely passive investors for the most part. It is the executive officers and board members who look to sell if it makes sense for their company and their own bank accounts.
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