Fording May Rise on Sale, Talisman May Gain; Weston May Fall

By John Kipphoff

July 29 (Bloomberg) -- Fording Canadian Coal Trust may surge, bids on the Toronto Stock Exchange indicated, after Teck Cominco Ltd. offered C$14.1 ($13.9 billion) for the second- largest exporter of coal used to make steel.

Talisman Energy Inc. may rise on better-than-expected earnings even as crude-oil prices fall. George Weston Ltd., the parent company of Canada's biggest supermarket chain, may decline after posting a drop in profit.

The Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index fell 0.6 percent to 13,303.96 yesterday in Toronto, led lower by financial stocks. Canada's main stock index has retreated 12 percent from its June 18 record of 15,073.13 on declining crude-oil prices and concern that the U.S. housing and mortgage crisis threatens global economic growth.

Fording Coal may jump C$5.46 to C$89.26, bids already submitted in Toronto indicated. Fording Canadian investors will receive $82 in cash and 0.245 of a class B Teck share for each unit they hold, Vancouver-based Teck Cominco, Canada's biggest diversified mining company, said.

Fording owns 60 percent of the Elk Valley Coal Partnership, which operates mines in British Columbia and Alberta. Teck, which owns the rest, may fall C$1.51 to C438.90, bids showed.

Talisman Energy may gain 23 cents to C$18.37, based on bids. The oil and natural-gas producer with about two-thirds of its reserves in North America or the North Sea, earned 81 cents a share in the second quarter excluding one-time items, according to Bloomberg data. That beat the 72 cent average estimate of analysts polled by Bloomberg.

Crude oil futures declined in New York as the U.S. dollar strengthened from a one-week low against the euro, limiting the appeal of commodities as an inflation hedge.

George Weston may drop C$1.32 to C442.95, bids showed. The company that controls Loblaw Cos. said second-quarter profit fell 8.5 percent to C$118 million, or 84 cents a share, from C$129 million, on costs related to job cuts at Loblaws and hedging on commodities. The average analyst estimate in a Bloomberg survey was 97 cents excluding some one-time items.

To contact the reporter on this story: John Kipphoff in Montreal at jkipphoff@bloomberg.net.