Shares of Greece-focused European Goldfields Ltd. were halted Tuesday after rocketing more than 20 percent on an approach by another gold company, according to a published report.

Sky News blogger Mark Kleinman said Canada-based El Dorado Gold Corp. recently approached European Goldfields about an outright takeover of the company.

If accurate, the overture has the potential to stop a Qatar Holding LLC plan, announced last fall, to provide $600 million in financing to European Goldfields and become its biggest shareholder, Kleinman said.

Whitehorse, Yukon-based European Goldfields already plans a Dec. 22 shareholder meeting to vote on the Qatar Holding plan, which is supported by European Goldfields management.

Reuters reported that the El Dorado overture was only one of several made recently to European Goldfields.

In a statement Tuesday European Goldfields acknowledged receiving third-party approaches, but said no formal offers have been received and there can be no assurances that any transaction will result from any of these approaches.

The Toronto Stock Exchange halted trading in the shares, which ended the day up 20.7 percent, or $2.06, to $12.02.

The gold mining and producing company, which focuses primarily on the Stratoni Project in northeastern Greece, is pursuing ventures in Olympias, Greece, and Certej, Romania as well as Turkey.

Gold Gold Management