BCE hires broker to buy back up to $40M of shares

BCE Inc., Canada's largest telecommunications company and parent of Bell Canada, said Wednesday it will use a broker to repurchase its stock in a previously announced buyback of up to 40 million shares.

BCE, based in Montreal, said the "automatic share purchase plan" will allow the broker to buy shares at any time, even when the company itself would be barred by law from doing so.

The 40 million shares represent about 5 percent of the company's outstanding stock as of Dec. 5. The buyback plan began Tuesday and will close Dec. 22, 2009, the company said.

In premarket trading, BCE shares fell 45 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $18.32.