Most actively traded companies on the TSX, TSX Venture Exchange markets

TORONTO – Some of the most active companies traded Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the TSX Venture Exchange:

Toronto Stock Exchange (12,100.06 up 53.78 points):

Talison Lithium Ltd. (TSX:TLH). Miner. Down 40 cents, or 5.62 per cent, at $6.72 on 13,568,412 shares. The company said it will review a takeover offer by Chengdu Tianqi Industry (Group) Co. Ltd. to see if it qualifies as a “superior proposal” to a friendly-takeover deal with Rockwood Holdings Inc.

Spartan Oil Corp. (TSX:STO). Oil and gas. Down 29 cents, or 5.66 per cent, at $4.83 on 10,986,043 shares. The company and Pinecrest Energy Inc. (TSXV:PRY) are joining forces to create a new billion-dollar company capable of snapping up big oil assets that both have long coveted, but neither had the heft to acquire on its own.

Research In Motion Ltd. (TSX:RIM). Wireless technology. Up 53 cents, or 5.46 per cent, $10.23 on 6,426,596 shares. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is making a switch from RIM`s BlackBerry smartphone to the new iPhone 5. The board says existing Blackberry devices have been failing both at “inopportune times” and at an unacceptable rate.

Whitecap Resources Inc. (TSX:WCP). Oil and gas. Down 52 cents, or 5.86 per cent, at $8.36 on on 5,145,046 shares.

CAE Inc. (TSX:CAE). Flight training and simulation provider. Up seven cents, or 0.74 per cent, at $9.48 on 4,019,485 shares.

Manulife Financial Corp. (TSX:MFC). Insurer. Up 21 cents, or 1.73 per cent, at $12.36 on 3,894,190 shares. CGI Group (TSX:CGI) has been awarded a $142-million, seven-year contract to provide infrastructure services and consolidate the U.S. data centres of John Hancock Financial, a subsidiary of Manulife Financial. (TSX:GIB.A). CGI`s shares were unchanged at $24.01.

TSX Venture Exchange (1,242.66 up 0.36 point):

Pinecrest Energy Inc. (TSXV:PRY). Oil and gas. Down six cents, or 3.21 per cent, at $1.81 on 32,367,357 shares. The deal with Spartan Oil Corp. sees the combined entity having an enterprise value of close to $1 billion.

Novus Energy Inc. (TSXV:NVS). Up eight cents, or 8.25 per cent, at $1.05 on 6,060,766 shares. Third-quarter earnings dropped 50 per cent to $1.7 million or a penny per share from year-earlier $3.5 million or two cents per share. Revenue increased to $19.4 million from $14.8 million.

Companies reporting major news:

Rogers Sugar Inc. (TSX:RSI). Sugar. The Montreal-based company earned $6.9 million in its latest quarter, down from a profit of $16.5 million a year ago, as the company shipped lower volumes for the three-month period. The sugar producer said volumes totalled 164,539 tonnes for the quarter, down from 170,880 tonnes a year ago.