After a two-hour and forty-five minute halt on Tuesday, shares in OPTI Canada Inc. resumed trading in Toronto after a precipitous decline in early trading. Within about 10 minutes of the 1:45 p.m. ET resumption, the shares failed to move much from their pre-halt level, and were last seen down about 25 per cent for the day. The shares had been down about 27 per cent before the halt.
The company released this statement, which is virtually identical to the one that accompanied its third quarter results, released in late October: "OPTI Canada Inc. announces that its board of directors has retained Lazard Frères & Co. LLC (Lazard) to assist in its ongoing review of strategic alternatives. Strategic alternatives may include capital market opportunities, asset divestitures, and/or a corporate sale, merger or other business combinations."
However, the statement failed to address concerns -- raised in a Bloomberg News article earlier in the day -- that the oil sands producer might be running out of cash to operate its Long Lake site.
David Berman