I was curious so I looked up Starrett's financial statements. Despite being a publicly traded company, I believe the Starrett family still had effective control. The President and CEO, Douglas Starrett is in his early 70s and I'm guessing he wants to cash out after 47 years. The company brought in 2 senior executives and the three of them are entitled to very significant payouts on a change in control. IOW, they've been planning to spruce up the balance sheet and sell the business.
Note that an investigation has been announced "regarding possible breaches of fiduciary duties and other violations of law related to Starrett's agreement to be acquired...".
(2024-03-12 | NYSE:SCX) SHAREHOLDER ALERT: Rigrodsky Law, P.A. Is Investigating The L.S. Starrett Company Buyout
stockhouse.com
I don't know if there is anything to these allegations or if this is just a knee-jerk thing in the USA.
As an aside, their financial statements are fascinating reading. Company appears to have a major issue with pensions and post-retirement plans. Heavily affected by foreign exchange rates but it's not clear to me if this is the UK, Brazil, or the far East. Or a combination. Etc, etc. The President's Message comes right out and complains "Biden is rolling out the largest regulatory onslaught since Obama...".
Craig