CanWest, Saxon Financial, Nortel, Teck: Canadian Equity Preview

By John Kipphoff

Aug. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The following companies may have unusual price changes in Canadian trading today. Stock symbols are in parentheses, and share prices are from the close on Aug. 1 in Toronto.

The Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index fell 0.7 percent to 13,592.91. Canadian financial markets were closed on Aug. 4 for the province of Ontario's Civic Day holiday.

CanWest Global Communications Inc. (CGS CN): Canada's biggest media company is considering a plan to go private, with the controlling Asper family buying the shares with the backing of Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. (FFH CN), the Globe and Mail reported Aug. 2.

CanWest spokesman John Douglas told Bloomberg News that CanWest doesn't comment on ``pure speculation.'' The shares rose 0.5 percent to C$2.

HudBay Minerals Inc. (HBM CN): The zinc mining company was raised to ``buy'' from ``hold'' by Canaccord Adams analyst Gary Lampard in Toronto. The shares rose 1 percent to C$9.99.

Mullen Group Income Fund (MTL-U CN) was raised to ``outperform'' from ``market perform'' by analyst Jason Granger at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto. The shares rose 5.1 percent to C$20.50.

Nortel Networks Corp. (NT CN): North America's biggest maker of telephone equipment was cut to ``underperform'' from ``neutral'' by Merrill Lynch & Co. analysts led by Vivek Arya in New York, on concern that the company's prospects in 2009 don't justify its share price. The stock fell 15 percent to C$6.66.

Saxon Financial Inc. (SFI CN): The mutual fund management company said that it agreed to be bought by a unit of IGM Financial Inc. (IGM CN) for C$21 ($20.11) a share, or about C$287 million. Saxon, with assets under management of about C$13 billion, will become a part of Mackenzie Financial Corp. once the take-over bid is completed, IGM said in a separate statement carried by Canada Newswire.

Saxon Financial shares rose 0.8 percent to C$12.70. IGM added 2 percent to C$43.60.

Teck Cominco Ltd. (TCK/B CN): Cia. Minera Antamina SA, the operator of the world's largest combined copper and zinc mine, said a study undertaken as part of the mine's expansion showed the site may hold 28 percent more recoverable metal than previously estimated. Teck Cominco co-owns Antamina with BHP Billiton Ltd. and Xstrata Plc. Teck fell 4.3 percent to C$45 on Aug. 1. The company's U.S. shares fell 8.6 percent on Aug. 4 in New York Stock Exchange trading as the price of copper tumbled.

TransCanada Corp. (TRP CN): Canada's largest pipeline company on Aug. 1 won state approval and a $500 million subsidy to proceed with plans to build an estimated $27 billion pipeline that will carry natural gas from Alaska's Arctic region to U.S. markets. The shares fell 0.5 percent to C$39.49.

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