"why would they need to remain short the equity " because they have plenty of time time to close (buy back) their shorts ; and some of them they're not going to buy back the shares to close their shorts; because at the completion of the newco they will get some new shares. these new shares will go back to the lenders... I hope this helps...
Further to Premier's announcement of 6 October 2020, the Company is pleased to announce that it has received the requisite level of support from each class of its creditors for the proposed merger of Premier and Chrysaor Holdings Limited and the reorganisation of Premier's existing finance arrangements with those creditors entering into a binding support letter.
My post is this: "If there's no stimulus tonight we could see 490 to 470p otherwise we could see 560 to 580p+ this week." So I was correct. Your last chance to close loses....