HI there,
I used to own IPL as well, but like you became disenchanted with managemetn. They've made many questionable decisions over the years, so when BIP came in with their initial offer, I jumped ship. Now that there is a mini bidding war, it will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
There is however, a floor now. Since there are two bidders, both won't walk away (like BIP could have previously). So $19.50 should be the around the 'floor' and while BIP did raise its big, I don't see this going much higher than 22-23 per share if the parties keep upping their big. I do prefer the PPL bid (not only because i own PPL) because i think there are many more synergies to be had. They also have an excellent track record of handling big projects (unlike IPL) so I would be more confident with their involvement here.
While i like BIP - it is more of an asset management company - buying, selling companies all the time. Overall however, with two bidders and bids very close to each other, at the very least there is a floor now and little risk of neither closing.
Mat