Jester,

Thanks for the reply on capital gains consequences to ALU. If that's so, it truly sucks - I have to take a ST cap gain that was completely unexpected. By accident, it turns out that I had held off tending while I saw if I wanted to acquire more (which I did). So I'm not committed to tendering my shares.

I don't think that really helps a bit - while lt cap said that NOK would likely make a buyout offer that essentially was equivalent to the exchange one is getting if shares are tendered, it's clear as mud to me whether not tendering would end up with avoiding a caps gains hit, as it kind of uncharted territory, and taking 'pot luck' hasn't worked out for me in most situations.

My brokerage went so far as to say that in their past experience, it's essentially not a taxable event - that is, your shares get translated into the acquirer's shares, and the only cap gain involved is the cash for cash in lieu for a fractional share. Of course they wouldn't commit to that, saying ask your tax advisor. They did say that how the event was to be handled would probably be announced by NOK after the fact, which of course helps not at all. But I have seen that sitaution where a company declares a 'special dividend', and then announced how it should be treated tax-wise after the fact.

It *sounds* to me like you feel pretty confident that it's a short-term capital gains event, and one can most count on paying tax on whatever profit one has. If I'm wrong, and I would like to be, correct me. And thanks for all the info. Merry Christmas - I think Santa just took a dump under my tree :-)