I tend not to post here too often. Over the past few weeks / months I have had a few chuckles at peoples opinion on what's actually happening.
I have been involved in several company sales in my previous 'life' in the UK, both as a buyer and a seller. Here's how it usually worked for me;
The 'selling' business (or in this case the Administrator) draws up a whole set of documents that set out the state of the business. These documents would include copies of every (material) contract, all income, expenditure, assets and a whole load of other things. It is commonly referred to as 'the bible'. Potential buyers then 'bid' for the business based on this information. If they are 'successful' - as in the case of Pinnacle, then they sign contracts that involves 'disclosure' of all information by the seller and they enter a period of due diligence.
During this period they have full access to any documents and information they request and if they can prove that, for example, income has been exaggerated then they have the right to reduce their offer by an appropriate amount (usually the formula for this has been agreed beforehand). If they find that the whole 'bible' is a work of fiction then they can pull out.
The upshot is that provided the 'bible' was not a bunch of baloney both the buyer and the seller have to complete (give or take anything discover after 'disclosure').
Sorry if this is boring reading but it's about time someone tried to explain the process - I'm just surprised that (so far as I can see) nobody has. Let's hope that 'the bible' was not pure fiction - otherwise the buyer cannot make a 'cheeky bid'.
By the way - I now live about 1 km from the family home of Thaksin Shinawatra and can't see any red and white. Only red shirts around there...