11:54 AM EST - BCE Inc. : BCE Inc. (TSX:BCE) has denied plans to be acquired by a legendary Wall Street buyout firm but observers say a takeover of Canada's biggest telephone company is possible, if not necessarily imminent. BCE stock bumped up 11 per cent Thursday on a report of a possible friendly leveraged buyout by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. It then pulled back to about half that gain after the parent of Bell Canada said "there are no ongoing discussions being held with any private-equity investor with respect to any privatization of the company or any similar transaction." BCE did not deny having held buyout talks, but said management "has no current intention to pursue such discussions." BCE Inc.
shares T.BCE are trading up 18 cents at $32.23.
