A new takeover is still possible

Article Excerpt

TECK RESOURCES LTD. $57 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol TECK.B; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 512.3 million; Market cap: $29.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 0.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.teck.com) recently dropped its plan to spin off its coal business due to difficulty securing the required two-thirds approval of the class B subordinate voting shareholders (1 vote per share). It now plans to restructure the spinoff proposal. That would likely include eliminating the royalty payments that the coal business would have to pay to the former parent. However, Teck won shareholder approval to phase out its dual-class share structure. Under the plan, the class A common shares (100 votes per share) and class B shares will convert to regular common shares within six years. The shift will make it harder for insiders to block potential takeover offers. That could also prompt Switzerland-based mining firm Glencore plc (Over-the-counter Pink Sheets symbol GLCNF) to raise its earlier takeover bid, which was…