Teck fields offers for coal division

Article Excerpt

TECK RESOURCES LTD. $57 remains a buy. The company (Toronto symbol TECK.B; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 515.0 million; Market cap: $29.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 0.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.teck.com) continues to examine ways to re-organize its operations into two separate firms—one would focus on metallurgical coal (a key ingredient in steelmaking), while the other would hold its copper, zinc and other mines. The company cancelled a proposal to spin off the coal operations earlier this year due to shareholder opposition. It also rejected an offer from Switzerland-based mining company Glencore plc (Over-the-counter Pink Sheets symbol GLCNF) to buy the coal business for a reported $8.2 billion U.S. Teck is now evaluating a range of possible takeover offers. In fact, India’s JSW Steel Ltd. is reportedly forming a consortium to buy 75% of the coal business. Other possible bidders include Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp., which agreed to buy a minority stake under the previous spinoff plan. The company aims…