The Financial Post reports in its Thursday edition the many ways to figure out the size of an M&A transaction were on display in BCE's move to privatize its 45-per-cent-owned affiliate, Bell Aliant. The Post's Barry Critchley quotes BCE as saying the transaction has a "total consideration" of about $3.95-billion. BCE said the $3.95-billion represented either the "funding requirement for the acquisition of public minority common shares," or the "total value for Bell Aliant public minority common shares." BCE is buying out 127.5 million minority shares at $31 a share. The $3.95-billion measure represents the equity value of the deal. However, the value of the deal has to be modified by a couple of factors: BCE is offering Bell Aliant's shareholders three options by which they can receive the $31: They can receive all cash or all stock, or both. Also, BCE has placed limits on the amount of its own shares it will issue and the amount of cash that it will pay out. In all, one quarter will be paid in cash (BCE plans to raise $1-billion to pay for the cash component) and three-quarters will be paid in stock. That means BCE will have to issue about 61 million of its own shares to buy the minority.