PIPEwire

BMO Financial Group and Haywood Securities raised $83.6 million for Australian gold producer CGA Mining Ltd. in a private placement.

The Perth, Australia-based company issued 39.1 million shares priced at $2.14 each, a 10.9% discount compared with the Jan. 19 announcement date. The price reflected a premium of 15.4% as the deal closed today.

CGA plans to use the proceeds to repay debt and for its Masbate Gold Project in the Philippines.

Source: PrivateRaise

Smedvig Capital, Pelmer Securities, Sanders Morris Harris and others invested $21.1 million in a private placement of shares of oil and gas producer Endeavour International Corp.

Danro Corp. and Platinum Business Investment Co. also participated in the placement. Houston-based Endeavour said others investors included some of its officers and directors, individual investors, trusts, pension funds, and foundations.

Under the placement, Endeavour issued 23.5 million shares priced at 90 cents each, which was where its stock traded at the market's close yesterday.

The placement was arranged by Madison Williams & Co.

Source: PrivateRaise

Nevsun Resources, a Canadian mining company with operations in Eritrea, has raised $110 million through an un-brokered private placement of common shares.

The Vancouver, British Columbia-based company issued 52 million shares priced at $2.1154 each. The price represents a premium of 3.7% to where Nevsun shares traded yesterday.

The money will be used to fund Nevsun's Bisha mine in Eritrea, which is partially financed by the Eritrean National Mining Corp. Nevsun said the proceeds of the placement are more than sufficient to fund the development of the mine, which is expected to cost $260 million and is about 50% complete.

Source: PrivateRaise

Juniperhill Asset Management, a majority woman-owned firm controlled by Deborah Solomon and Jeff Haas, launched a fund to make private placement investments in U.S small cap and microcap companies.

Solomon and Haas declined to comment on how much money they raised or on their specific investment goals.

Solomon previously worked for three years at Whalehaven Capital Fund in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. She also was founder and co-manager of the Bluegrass Growth Fund. Haas worked for four years at Centrecourt Asset Management and at CIBC's proprietary trading desk.

Juniperhill also advises Capitoline Advisors on investing in bridge financing and equity line financing for small and micro cap U.S. public companies.

Placement agent Jefferies & Co. hired David Bohn, formerly of Cowen & Co., to head its PIPE banking practice, a Jefferies spokesman said.

Bohn won't join Jefferies until the end of April, when his three-month non-compete period is finished. He had worked for Cowen since March 2009. Bohn is replacing Mark Weissman, who left Jefferies last year.

Downsview Capital, Millennium Management, and Rodman & Renshaw agreed to invest a total of $10 million in a registered direct offering of common stock by Chinese auto-part maker SORL Auto Parts.

The stock will be priced at $10 a share, representing a 1.9% discount to where SORL shares traded yesterday.

The placement was arranged by Rodman for a $650,000 fee.

Zhejiang, China-based SORL said it plans to use the proceeds for working capital and general corporate purposes.

Source: PrivateRaise

Fletcher International, an affiliate of Fletcher Asset Management, agreed to buy $5 million in convertible preferred stock of Raser Technologies, a geothermal energy technology company.

Fletcher, already one of Raser's biggest shareholders, will also receive rights to purchase an additional $14 million in preferred stock.

The preferred stock will pay dividends of LIBOR plus 8%, but no greater than 14%. The preferred shares will initially be convertible at $5 a share, more than six times the price Raser traded at yesterday. They can also be redeemed at a price of no less than $1.22 each.

Capstone Investments arranged the offering.

Source: PrivateRaise

Yorkville Advisors, the fund management firm run by Mark Angelo, said in an e-mail that its YA Global Investments (U.S.), LP and YA Offshore Global Investments Ltd. funds gained 0.04% last month. The gains compare with losses of 4.55% in January 2009.

Steven Tuch, the former head of private placements and PIPEs at Deutsche Bank Securities, has joined Cantor Fitzgerald, according to FINRA records.

Cantor has arranged only seven PIPEs since 2001. The placement agent advised on Excel Maritime's $124 million private offering in 2005, a $55 million Excel placement in 2004 and a $60 million offering for Cell Genesis in 2007.

Tuch worked at Atlantic-Pacific Capital from July 2009 until last month. Prior to that, he worked at Deutsche Bank from March 2005 to June 2009. Deutsche Bank arranged 31 PIPEs during that period, raising $7.89 billion.

Wellington West Capital Markets arranged a $37.6 million registered direct offering of shares and warrants for Canadian gold producer Rainy River Resources.

The Vancouver-based company is issuing 8.08 million shares priced at $4.6470 each. That was a 1.4% discount to where Rainy River shares traded yesterday. The company is issuing two-year warrants to buy 4.04 million shares for $6.654 each.

The company plans to use the proceeds for its Rainy River Gold Project in northwestern Ontario.

Source: PrivateRaise

Placement agent Lazard arranged a $21 million registered direct offering of shares and warrants for biomedical developer XOMA Ltd.

Berkeley, Calif.-based XOMA is issuing 42 million shares priced at 50 cents each. That's a 23% discount to where XOMA stock traded yesterday. The company is also issuing five-year warrants to buy 18.9 million shares for 70 cents each.

XOMA plans to use the proceeds for the second phase of a clinical trial for a drug to treat diabetes and cardiovascular disease, to pay $4.5 million to holders of warrants issued in June, and for working capital and general corporate purposes.

Source: PrivateRaise

RBC Capital Markets and Thomas Weisel Partners arranged $9.4 million in financing for oil producer Toreador Resources through a privately negotiated exchange agreement with an institutional investor.

As part of the transaction, Dallas-based Toreador is exchanging $22 million of 5% senior convertible notes due in October plus the amount of the new financing for $31.6 million of 15-year senior convertible notes that will pay an 8% coupon in their first year and 7% after.

The notes will initially be convertible into common stock at $13.70 a share, representing an 8.6% premium to the trading price of Toreador stock on Friday.

Source: PrivateRaise

Evergreen Energy, a green energy technology developer, said it increased its registered direct offering of common shares and warrants by $1.7 million to raise a new total of $8.77 million.

Denver-based Evergreen is issuing 29.2 million shares priced at 30 cents each. It also is issuing 5.5-year warrants to purchase up to 14.6 million additional shares, exercisable at 38.6 cents each.

Rodman & Renshaw LLC arranged the placement for Evergreen.

Source: PrivateRaise

Wallbridge Mining, a Canadian mining company, invested $14.1 million in a private placement of common stock by Duluth Metals. Wallbridge made the investment through a pre-emptive right it was granted by Duluth as part of a Jan. 14 private placement of $11.6 million in stock to Antofagasta Plc.

Wallbridge has increased its holdings in Duluth by about 23% to 12.3 million shares, representing about a 12.9% stake. Duluth Metals was created in late 2005, when Wallbridge spun out its Minnesota property into a new company.

Following the placement, Antofagasta, a London-based mining company with operations in Bolivia and Chile, has the right to purchase up to 550,939 shares of Duluth at a price of C$2 (U.S. $1.88) each.

Toronto-based Duluth is a producer of copper, nickel, platinum and gold.

Source: PrivateRaise

Resins Systems, a developer of advanced composite products for industrial markets, raised $14.2 million from a private placement of common stock. The Calgary, Alberta-based company issued 45.5 million shares, a 24.2% stake in the company, priced at 31 cents each. The price presented a 0.6% premium over Resin Systems' closing share price yesterday.

Source: PrivateRaise

Pala Investment AG agreed to invest $3.23 million in metals producer Crowflight Minerals, as part of a $14.2 million private placement of common stock.

Pala and other investors will pay an 8% premium to Crowflight's closing share price yesterday for a 19.9% stake in the company. They will hold 93.75 million shares, priced at 15 cents each.

Toronto-based Crowflight intends to use the proceeds to ramp up production at a nickel mine in Manitoba, and for general corporate purposes.

Source: PrivateRaise

Roth Capital Partners and Merriman Curhan Ford & Co. are raising $28 million through a registered direct offering to certain institutional investors for GenVec Inc., a developer of drugs including a treatment for pancreatic cancer.

Gaithersburg, Md.-based GenVec is issuing 14 million shares priced at $2 each and warrants to purchase 4.2 million shares for $2.75 each. The shares are priced at a 19% discount to where GenVec stock closed yesterday.

Source: PrivateRaise

Rodman & Renshaw arranged a $7 million registered direct offering for Evergreen Energy, a green technology developer.

Denver-based Evergreen is issuing 23.5 million shares of common stock priced at 30 cents each. That represents a 23.1% discount to where the stock closed yesterday. Evergreen is also issuing 5.5-year warrants to purchase an additional 11.8 million shares for 38.6 cents each.

The company said it plans to use the proceeds for general working capital. Evergreen has raised more than $216.4 million from 15 PIPEs since 2001.

Source: PrivateRaise

Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. arranged an $8 million private placement for Worldwide Energy and Manufacturing USA to buy raw materials for the solar products it makes.

The South San Francisco, Calif., and Shanghai-based company, which specializes in solar module technology, is selling 1.7 million shares for $4.50 each. That represents a 20.4% discount to where Worldwide shares closed yesterday. The company is also issuing five-year warrants to purchase another 1.7 million shares for $5.65 each.

Some Worldwide officers agreed to place a total of another 1.7 million shares that they control into escrow to secure the company's obligation to achieve EBITDA of at least $4 million this year. The escrowed shares will be distributed to the investors if Worldwide Energy misses the earnings target.

The company said it plans to use the proceeds from the private placement to purchase raw materials to fulfill a backlog of $58 million in orders.

Source: Press Release

Chardan Capital Markets and FIG Partners arranged a $6.02 million registered direct offering for oil refiner SulphCo.

The offering will consist of 11.8 million shares of common stock priced at 51 cents each, a 15% discount to where SulphCo stock closed yesterday. Investors will also receive two-year warrants to buy 5.9 million shares for 70 cents each and five-year warrants to buy 5.9 million shares for $1 each.

Houston-based SulphCo said it will use the money for working capital and general corporate purposes.

Source: PrivateRaise