Certicom, Fortis, Manulife, RIM, Teck: Canada Equity Preview

By John Kipphoff

Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- The following companies may have unusual price changes in Canadian trading today. Stock symbols are in parentheses, and share prices are from yesterday’s close in Toronto.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 0.9 percent to 8,327.81.

Certicom Corp. (CIC CN): Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM CN), the maker of the BlackBerry e-mail phones, said it will offer to buy all the outstanding stock of the Mississauga, Ontario-based maker of computer-security software, for C$1.50 a share in cash.

The offer represents a 77 percent premium over Certicom’s closing share price on Dec. 2, Waterloo, Ontario-based Research in Motion said in a statement distributed by Marketwire. Certicom shares fell 2.3 percent to 85 cents.

Fortis Inc. (FTS CN): The owner of utilities in Canada and the Caribbean said that it’s raising C$300.1 million ($240.3 million) by selling 11.7 million common shares at C$25.65 apiece to a group of brokerages, who will in turn sell the stock on to the public. Proceeds from the sale will be used to pay down debt, St. John’s, Newfoundland-based Fortis said in a statement distributed by Marketwire. The shares fell 1 percent to C$27.

Ivernia Inc. (IVW CN): The company that used to produce 3 percent of the world’s mined lead said Western Australia state approved the shipment of 8,000 metric tons of the metal that’s been blocked from export since last year. The shares gained 20 percent to 6 cents.

Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC CN): Canada’s biggest insurance company may have to raise more capital if stock prices fall further, Chief Executive Officer Dominic D’Alessandro said after his company announced yesterday that it will sell as much as C$2.13 billion ($1.7 billion) in common shares. The shares fell 2.8 percent to C$19.89.

Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM CN): The maker of the BlackBerry e-mail phone reported third-quarter sales and profit that missed its forecasts, signaling that the popularity of smart phones isn’t immune to the economic slump.

Profit rose to no more than 83 cents a share in the quarter ended Nov. 29, missing a company forecast of as much as 97 cents, Waterloo, Ontario-based Research In Motion said yesterday. The results were preliminary, with the full financial report due on Dec. 18. The shares fell 7.5 percent to C$46.46.

Teck Cominco Ltd. (TCK/B CN): Canada’s largest diversified miner said “difficult” market conditions that have hurt demand for metals and other materials could persist for more than 18 months. “We think that this slowdown has its roots so deep that the difficult conditions we face now could last for 12 to 18 months, or longer,” Chief Executive Officer Don Lindsay said. The shares fell 3.6 percent to C$4.78.

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