Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian stocks rose for third straight day, led by banks and insurers, as an unsolicited C$2.6 billion ($2.6 billion) offer for DundeeWealth Inc. fueled speculation of a bidding war for the mutual-fund manager.
Gains for the Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index were limited as commodity producers, paced by Suncor Energy Inc. and Barrick Gold Corp., declined on lower oil and bullion prices.
The S&P/TSX added 39.34, or 0.3 percent, to 13,997.62 in Toronto. It has risen 1.2 percent in three days, as higher commodity prices and takeovers lifted the Canadian dollar to parity with its U.S. counterpart for the first time in 30 years.
``The margins in fund management are pretty good,'' said David Rea, chairman of Davis-Rea Ltd. Investment, which manages $475 million in Toronto. ``The financial companies are the recipients of the strength of Canada's economy in general.''
CI Financial offered to buy DundeeWealth for C$20.25 ($20.20) a share in stock. The bid is 52 percent higher than Dundee's closing share price of C$13.31 yesterday. It also exceeds last week's agreement by Bank of Nova Scotia, Canada's second-biggest bank, to buy 18 percent of DundeeWealth for C$348 million, or C$12.76 a share.
Adding DundeeWealth and its C$63 billion of assets would double CI Financial's size and allow it to overtake Canada's biggest banks and IGM Financial Inc., currently Canada's biggest mutual-fund company.
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