Brunswick wants to be the largest producer in each segment of the active recreation market it participates in. Hanging on to Bayliner would allow them to keep that distinction. Roger Patterson was recently pulled out of US Marine. An internal buy out, such as selling it to several high ranking Brunswick and Mercury Marine types would not get the FTC off their back. The sale needs to be to an established firm.
Many boat builders are captive companies belonging to drive companies.
OMC is seen as the enemy and in major financial strife anyway, they seem out of the running. They might want to buy Sea Ray, but my elves report not all is well in their camp. They are probably too busy trying to keep their own ship afloat to worry about it at this moment. Yamaha is a possible suitor. They are a major builder in Asia and have a long standing relationship with Brunswick.