The saga of the Xenith IP (ASX:XIP) merger/takeover love triangle might be about to end.

The company’s prospective merger partner QANTM (ASX:QIP) told shareholders this morning it would not match IPH’s (ASX:IPH) latest offer.

QANTM had until 5pm today to submit an offer but told its shareholders this morning it had given up. The company simply said, “QANTM has notified Xenith that it will not be submitting a revised proposal prior to that deadline”.

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This morning’s announcement puts an end to months of uncertainty that actually began with IPH trying to buy QANTM. Then IPH bought 19.9 per cent of Xenith to ensure Xenith and QANTM could not merge and the two companies bidded to be Xenith’s suitor.

IPH’s latest offer on Tuesday offered $2.15 per Xenith share – $1.28 cash and 0.1261 IPH shares for every Xenith share.

IPH said on Tuesday it looked forward to the expiration of the ‘matching right’ period and promised to update shareholders once it expired.

In other corporate news:

The board of Australian Whisky Holdings (ASX:AWY) have issued a defence against the shareholders trying to remove it. Tasmanian rich lister Bruce Neill (who owns 9 per cent of the company) wants to remove four of five board members and replace them with his own.

The current board said today they had tried to compromise with Neill but he rejected it. They called his proposal “opportunistic” in that he sought control with only 9 percent of the company. And they claimed he did not have a different plan for the future nor made the case for a change. They also gave a list of their achievements including acquisitions, capital raisings and completed projects. However, they did not mention their most recent half year financial figures, a loss of $1.5 million.

Yellow Brick Road (ASX:YBR) has been planning for several months to launch its own securitisation business. Now, it seems they have the cash to do it, thanks to the signing of non-binding two term sheets announced to the market today. They have the initial $6m to launch a mortgage-backed securities warehouse facility and term sheets for $100m in future funding.

Neither counter-party was formally identified — the first was described as ‘a US$13b alternative asset manager’. YBR has been plagued by an opportunistic takeover offer by an irate investor and a massive half year loss.