EnCana shares jump on plan to split company

Shares ofEnCana soared from the opening bell Friday as investors and analysts welcomed the energy giant's relaunched plan to split itself in two.

EnCana shares closed up $4.18 at$63.52 on the TSX a gain of seven per cent.

Late Thursday, EnCana announced it had revived a plan tosplit itself into two companies one to hold its oil assets and one for natural gas. That plan, first floated in May 2008, was deferred a few months later when the credit crisis developed.

The pure-play natural gas part of the company will be known as EnCana while the integrated oil company will be called Cenovus Energy. EnCana shareholders are to receive one share of each company.

"Since we delayed our plans last October due to the meltdown in the financial markets, a number of positive things have occurred and we're ready to proceed with this value-enhancing transaction," EnCana CEORandy Eresman told analysts on a conference call Friday.

That was a reference to improvements in equitymarketsand the availability of cheaper debt financing. Launching Cenovus would requireat least $5 billion in financing.

Analysts were quick to upgrade the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised EnCana from "market perform" to "outperform" and boosted its price target by $5 to $65.

"We believe the newly formed natural gas company is well positioned to deliver consistent growth in production and free cash flow from its impressive asset base," analyst Randy Ollenberger said ina client note.

UBS analyst Andrew Potter gave the split plan a thumbs-up in his client note. "Overall, we believe the transaction is positive over the long term."