BCE Inc.'s shares dropped as much as 14 per cent Thursday, following a Quebec appeal court ruling that put Canada's largest proposed takeover deal in doubt.
The ruling, which said the sale would be unfair to the company's debtholders, caused some analysts to predict the pending $35-billion takeover by the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan is dead. Indeed, the stock had already fell $4.48 to $32.64 by Thursday afternoon, when the TSX halted trading in BCE shares thanks to "data integrity concerns."
Meanwhile, the languishing BCE-Teachers deal led to speculation of another possible bid for BCE by rival Telus.
The current deal has been subject of intense speculation over the past several months thanks to a declining capital market and lower trading prices than the offered $42.75 per share.
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