Talisman the subject of heightened takeover speculation - report

Talisman Energy, the listed Canadian oil and gas company, has found itself the subject of heightened takeover rumors, according to the National Post.
The report cited Barry Nelson, who works with Talisman, as saying that his company will not address recently published reports suggesting that Total SA, the listed French energy giant, is interested in launching a takeover attempt for Talisman. In the report, it was noted that Talisman's stock price climbed yesterday on speculation that an outright takeover bid or breakup of the entity was possibly imminent.
Chris Theal, an analyst with Tristone Capital, said in the report that Talisman could possibly be broken up into three portions, which could bump up the company's share value to between CAD 23 and CAD 25. Talisman's market cap is USD 19.06bn, according to Yahoo Finance.