If any takeover happens and that's a big IF, I would expect a ton of synergies between these two operations such that HBL could strip many many millions of dollars from the UDC cost structure.
As Percy reminds us Heartland directors have tons of skin in the game and there's no way they will take untoward risks or do any acquisition that's not EPS accretive.
Funds probably better in HBL shares at the current price earning 7%, (especially with the bulk of that annual return paid out in a new few months) than in their call account earning 2.75%. I think this correction in HBL shares is done and dusted or very very close to being so.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU180...tars-again.htm