[schnoodleC]

Very good point! Of course, your money isn't locked up really. You needn't hold on to the stock until the merger goes through. To make money you only have to hold on until the spread between the current price and the buy out price shrinks to an acceptable level for you to make a nice profit.

In this case, it took only a few days for the stock to rise 7 of the 8% in the spread, giving you a 7% profit if you bought right after the merger was announced. Of course, things won't always work at as well and the time value of your investment should be a part of the compensation.