Green Plains Renewable Energy raises $48 million in stock sale; United EcoEnergy plans $10 million issue

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, July 31 - Two alternative energy names were at the head of private placement activity to start out the week as oil prices spiked again.

Oil prices jumped $1.06 on Monday to end the session at $74.30 per barrel.

That jump may spark more activity among alternative energy issuers, according to one market source familiar with resources.

"There's a lot of activity in oil and it's probably going to get worse before it gets better," said one market source based in Vancouver, B.C. "I do think there is a great market for alternative fuel companies right now because people are looking at viable ways to get around oil."

Leading those alternative energy offerings was a $48,002,070 direct stock deal from Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc.

Green Plains issued 1,600,069 shares at $30.00 apiece. The investors received one warrant for one-fifth of a share for every share purchased in the offering. Each whole warrant is exercisable at $60.00 each.

Green Plains had 4,401,492 outstanding common shares as of June 27.

The shares were sold under the company's shelf registration.

The company's stock gained $1.50, or 4.48%, to end the day at $32.50 (Nasdaq: GPRE). The stock had climbed to that level by 12:45 p.m. ET.

Anderson & Strudwick, Inc. was the bookrunner for the offering with Sanders Morris Harris, Shoreline Pacific LLC and Smith Hayes Financial Services as co-agents.

Proceeds from the deal will be used to construct an ethanol plant near Superior, Iowa.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank Anderson & Strudwick, Sanders Morris Harris and Smith Hayes Financial Services for their assistance in helping the company secure the equity financing needed to build our second 50 million-gallon ethanol plant," said Barry Ellsworth, Green Plains' chief executive officer, in a news release.

According to its latest earnings statement, Green Plains reported a net income of $110,037 for the quarter ended May 31, compared to a net loss of $231,524 for the corresponding 2005 quarter.

Las Vegas-based Green Plains operates ethanol production facilities.

United EcoEnergy's offering

Another alternative fuel company, United EcoEnergy Corp., plans to sell at least $10 million in either common or preferred stock.

Lempert Brothers International USA is the placement agent, but the terms of the offering have not been determined yet.

United EcoEnergy is working to construct five additional ethanol plants through Alternative Fuels, LLC using technology developed by Woodland Chemical Systems, Inc.

The company has so far entered into two letters of intent to purchase the Averill Wind Farm for $15 million from Northern Alternative Energy and to acquire the interest of Northern Alternative Energy in Lakota Ridge, LLC; Shaokatan Hills, LLC; and CHI Minnesota Wind, LLC, including real estate and wind-generation equipment for $6.4 million.

Based in Cocoa, Fla., United EcoEnergy develops wind, ethanol, biodiesel and other alternative fuel sources.

Cubic wraps $2.1 million PIPE

In the oil sector, Cubic Energy, Inc. settled a private placement of 3 million units for proceeds of $2.1 million.

The units are comprised of one share and one half-share warrant. The whole warrants are exercisable at $0.70 each.

Proceeds will be used for drilling and exploration at the S.E. Johnson 19 No. 1 well. The remainder will be used for working capital.

On Monday, Cubic's stock edged up by 1.32%, or a penny, to close at $0.77 (OTCBB: QBIK).

"We are pleased to be drilling another Cotton Valley well in our Bethany Longstreet acreage and look forward to raising additional capital to continue our development program," said James Busby, Cubic's chief financial officer, in a statement released Monday afternoon.

Cubic Energy, located in Dallas, is an oil and natural gas exploration company.

pSivida raises $6.5 million

Heading to the active tech sector Monday, pSivida Ltd. completed a private placement of subordinated convertible debentures for $6.5 million.

The 8% three-year debentures were purchased by Absolute Europe Catalyst Fund, Absolute Octane Fund and Australian IT Investments Ltd.

The debentures are convertible into American Depositary Shares at $2.00 each.

The debentures are redeemable at 108% of face value plus interest. The company may force conversion of the debentures if its stock trades above $4.00 for more than 25 consecutive trading days.

The investors received warrants for ADS equal to 90% of the principal of new outstanding debentures divided by the conversion price. The warrants are exercisable at $2.00 each for five years.

pSivida's stock dipped by 4 cents, or 1.41%, to close at $2.80 (Nasdaq: PSDV).

Mercury Investments Ltd. was the placement agent.

Based in Perth, Western Australia, pSivida makes nanotechnology products used by pharmaceutical and other medical providers.

In other tech news, Raptor Networks Technology, Inc. wrapped a $5 million private placement of senior convertible notes with Castlerigg Master Investments Ltd.; Cedar Hill Partners Onshore, LP; and Cedar Hill Partners Offshore, Ltd.

The 9.25% notes are due in 2008 and are initially convertible into common shares at $0.43948 each.

The investors also received series L and M warrants for 24,460,726 shares. Both series of warrants are exercisable at $0.5054 each for five years.

Montgomery & Co., LLC was the placement agent.

Proceeds from the offering will be used to pay down $1.2 million in debt, pay for $2 million in operations costs, pay for $500,000 in capital expenditures and provide $1 million in working capital for the company.

Raptor's stock climbed by 3 cents, or 6.82%, to settle at $0.41 Monday (OTCBB: RPTN).

Based in Santa Ana, Calif., Raptor develops network switching architectures used in video, voice-over-internet protocol and high-speed storage applications.

Carrizo stock up 4%

After announcing the pending completion of a $35.1 million stock deal on Friday, Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc. saw its stock climb by 4% on Monday.

The stock gained $1.14 to end the session at $29.61 (Nasdaq: CRZO). The company's stock fell on Friday after the deal was settled, losing 1.6%, or 46 cents, to close at $28.47.

In the placement, Carrizo plans to sell 1.35 million shares at $26.00 each to a group of institutional investors. The price per share is a 10% discount to the company's $28.93 closing stock price from Thursday.

The offering represents 5.4% of the company's fully diluted outstanding shares.

Houston-based Carrizo is an oil and natural gas exploration company.

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