A Canadian Natural Resources pump jack pumps oil out of the ground near Dorothy, Alberta, June 30, 2009.Todd Korol/Reuters
Shares of Gear Energy Ltd. are soaring in anticipation of a planned public listing for the Calgary company.
Gear plans to go public by the end of the year, either through an initial public offering or a reverse takeover. Gear is run by a well-known Calgary management team, with backers that have made people rich before. And in the weeks since Gear said it was looking to become publicly traded, the shares have been surging as investors get ready.
From $2 a piece in the grey market in the middle of August, the stock has popped to $2.75, according to prices from Macquarie Private Wealth grey market trading desk in Calgary. That puts the company's market capitalization close to $150-million.
Gear is also getting ready for a public listing at a time when there's a bit of excitement gathering around smaller, growing oil companies (probably helped by some takeovers).
(Boyd Erman is a Globe and Mail Reporter & Streetwise Columnist.)
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