I would not want to sell CLL(anytime soon) because they have actual production and revenues vs UTS who is still waiting with it's partners on the sidelines.

Breaking News from The Globe and Mail

UTS Energy soars on takeover bid

GREG KELLER

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

PARIS — — Shares in UTS Energy Corp. doubled in price Wednesday morning after French oil giant Total SA said it will offer $617-million in cash for the Calgary-based oil sands company.

UTS shares rose by 87 cents to $1.70 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. This is well above the $1.30-per-share offer Total made for all outstanding shares of UTS Energy and a sign the market expects a much richer rival bid. Petro-Canada has been named as a possible suitor.

Total said its offer would be launched “in the coming days” and would run for “at least 60 days.” The unsolicited takeover would give Total access to UTS Energy's stake in a large oil sands project in northern Alberta.

The deal is conditional on Total receiving at least 66.67 per cent of UTS Energy's shares.

“It's a shocker – I wasn't expecting that,” said William Lacey, analyst at FirstEnergy Capital Corp in Calgary.

UTS Energy owns a 20-per-cent stake in Alberta's Fort Hills Project, an oil sands field with an estimated 4 billion barrels of bitumen.

Alberta is home to vast reserves of oil sands, a tar-like bitumen that is extracted using mining techniques. Industry officials estimate the region could yield as much as 175 billion barrels of oil, which would make Canada second only to Saudi Arabia in crude oil reserves.

However, the massive oil sands projects have been criticized as a growing source of greenhouse gas emissions.

In its own statement Wednesday, UTS Energy said it is “reviewing the unsolicited take-over proposal” and “will pursue the course of action that is in the best interests of UTS and its shareholders.”

The Fort Hills Project is led by Petro-Canada with a 60 per cent stake. The remaining 20 per cent is owned by Canadian mining company Teck Cominco Ltd.

A final decision on developing the project is expected to be made by 2010, with production starting as early as 2013, Total said.

The project will strengthen Total's oil sands portfolio in northern Alberta, where it already owns majority stakes in two other developments — the Joslyn Project and the Northern Lights Project.

Besides Fort Hills, UTS Energy also holds a 50 per cent working interest in an additional 122,667 hectares of oil sands prospective leases located primarily on the west side of the Athabasca River, UTS Energy said.

UTS shares have tumbled 84 per cent in the past year, as project costs rose, oil prices sank and investors questioned the company's ability to finance its share of Fort Hills.

“We have a strategy to grow our position in North America,” Total spokesman Paul Floren said from the company's headquarters in Paris.

“Acquiring the UTS interest in the Fort Hills project complements the strategy by allowing us to acquire a relatively large, attractive land position with a significant oil sands project and a capable operating partner at a fair price.”

All of UTS's assets could add about 2.1 billion barrels of resources to Total's Canadian oil sands portfolio, Mr. Lacey said.

“Oil is what it is right now, and the markets are what they are,” he said. “But there's a pretty material resource behind what you've got here.”

He suggested Petro-Canada may be chief among firms that could consider a rival bid.

Mr. Floren said Total may consider increasing its stake in Fort Hills if it is successful in scooping up UTS. But he declined to comment on whether the French oil company was looking at Teck's 20 per cent interest.

Reports have said Teck may be interested in selling its stake to help it repay billions of dollars in debt it took on last year to buy Fording Canadian Coal Trust.

UTS shares closed down 2 cents at 83 cents on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Total announced its bid after the market closed.

- With files from Reuters

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