So knowing what you know about KKR and presuming we are in a guessing game, what would that number look like ?
TIA
As for price, I've discussed what I think WMIH will be worth, so no need to repeat those values. You can calculate scenarios for yourself as follows:
Two years ago I was vilified for stating that WMIH would raise capital. Yes, capital. Meaningful capital, i.e., in billion$. I said that whatever WMIH planned it would need billions of dollars to effect it. I understood that such magnitude was necessary and that with the types of players involved, this order of capitalization would be expected. Very shortly you'll see WMIH has raised such capital. FYI, a large amount of capital is necessary to exploit the NOLs in timely fashion. By timely I mean one must limit the window in which the capital is used to as short a period of time as possible as the NOLs are a depreciating asset (i.e., they do not contain a growth factor to adjust for inflation, for example).
Even allowing a modest capital raise of, say, $2B, WMIH must address the depreciation factor discussed previously. Accordingly, if WMIH obtains a substantial return on the order of 50%, or $1B, for example, under straight line depreciation it thereby exhausts the NOLs in six years. I understood that even this was too long a period, and since the return factor is subject to factors like market conditions, more capital is necessary, i.e., twice as much ($4B) or more. Remember: as I said more than a year ago, the more capital the less vulnerable the company is to a decline in profits' hurting the important NOL depreciation. This is a factor the players can control; they have much less control over market factors affecting profit margins (For example, WMIH has a minimum revenue level of $1.5B, $5B in capital, and projected margin of 50%, and expects a return of $2.5B, to exhaust the NOLs in a little over two years. If margin declines to 30%, it makes $1.5B, so NOLs depreciate in four years, an acceptable, though not optimal, horizon.)
Finally, once you realize what return is necessary (and, therefore, likely) you calculate the number of outstanding shares absorbing that profit level. We now know that at least 271mm shares will be outstanding, however this does not account for the number of shares that must be given to the owners of the acquired entity (i.e., the engine). If you think you know the type of business WMIH will pursue, you can go into the market and examine publicly traded companies (you could consider private ones, but that would be more difficult) that would be likely candidates. For example, if a company is worth $1B, you know WMIH must be worth more (and it will be once its capitalized) to acquire it. If WMIH capitalizes itself to $3.5B and the target is worth $1B, you can use algebra to extrapolate share ratios and a total float.
Extrapolating on published facts is what the market has been doing since 12/9 and will be doing over the next few months. For example, barring anything unforeseen, the market expects KKR to execute, so the float will be about 210mm shares as of 2/1. Further, and again assuming nothing unforeseen, the market will expect the NOLs to be intact on 3/20 and the float to rise to 271mm at that time. After that, the market will look for capitalization on the order I've described.