GasNet sparks leak fear Business The Australian

FOR an awful moment late on Friday, the investment bankers advising Babcock & Brown Infrastructure and Australia Pipeline Trust thought news of their planned $371 million bid for GasNet had leaked.
To the consternation of the teams at Deutsche Bank, Wilson HTM and Rothschild, there was a sudden rush at the close of Friday to buy GasNet.
GasNet shares were at $2.27 when normal trading closed at 4pm, compared with the BBI/APT planned offer of $2.55, but strong demand during the single price auction that sets the settlement price saw bids go as high as $2.75.
The market eventually settled at $2.39, a gain of almost 8 per cent on the day. Over 900,000 shares went through after the close, well above average daily volumes of 600,000 shares.
But after spooking themselves with conspiracy theories, the bankers reckon it was arbitrage players rushing to buy back short positions they had built up in anticipation of GasNet falling out of the ASX 200 index that day.
BBI chief executive Steve Boulton agreed it was unusual but that "we haven't been contacted by any third party".