Finalspls
If any behind the scenes negotiations were taking place, I would not expect your "mates" to know about it until it was about to be public knowledge unless your "mates" were SWB or PB. Even if SWB or PB were your "mates" they wouldn't tell you until they could tell you which, as above, would be within hours of it becoming public knowledge.
Of course its behind management doors if there is any truth to it, otherwise it would be public knowledge and no longer a rumour and I wouldn't have posted it in the first place when I heard it from a European OEM.