Perhaps your suitor smells competition ahead. It may be he has knowledge of something coming down the pike and wants to "button you up" so to speak before he loses you to his competition. It also might be that he wants to contain his costs, rule the roost or just have a sure thing instead of something that may slip through his fingers.
If it was me, I'd be suspicious of his true intentions. Rarely do companies make offers like this for your good. It's for their good. If you manage to eek out a gain from a buyout, it's basically good providence and not part of the plan.
As for those darn ladders, I had a nice fall off of one about 15 years ago and I'm still smarting from it all these years later. I bought a $1000 contractor grade scaffold a while back so whenever I need to get up high, I use that. It's a lot more difficult to set up but I feel totally secure standing on a 5x7 solid surface.
ShopBot Details:
2013 PRS 96x60x12 (Centroid upgrade)
4hp Spindle
12" indexer
Aspire
Rhino
Fusion 360
Ferrari 360
Prusa MK3S+
Prusa XL multi-tool