Maverick Oil raises $20 million from convertibles; Protalex settles $5.84 million offering

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, Jan. 6 - As the week wrapped up and oil prices jumped almost $1.50, Maverick Oil and Gas, Inc. led action settling a $20 million convertible debenture offering.

Word of the offering, which was announced Friday afternoon, sent the company's stock up 10.31%, or 8 cents, to end at $0.87.

In the deal, the company sold 7.5% debentures due Jan. 5, 2009. The debentures are convertible into common shares at $0.94 each.

The company had 96,472,565 outstanding common shares as of Nov. 22.

The investors received warrants for 31,996,587 shares, exercisable for five years at prices ranging from $0.94 to $2.00 each.

Proceeds will be used for activities in the Fayetteville Shale Play in Arkansas and for ongoing development of the company's Barnett Shale program in Texas. The rest will be used to prepay a $2 million convertible note issued in October and for other corporate purposes.

Maverick previously completed a private placement of units for $30 million on Jan. 26, 2005, selling 15 million units at $2.00 each.

In its most recent earnings report, the company had a net loss of $14,789,993 for the quarter ended May 31, 2005, compared with a net loss of $14,302 for the same quarter of 2004.

Based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Maverick Oil and Gas is an oil and natural gas exploration, exploitation, development and production company.

The Maverick deal closed on a day when oil prices climbed $1.42 to end at $64.21

Elsewhere, however, sellsiders said there wasn't much to report in U.S. PIPE activity.

"You know, all week it's been kind of slow," said one market source in New York. "I'm not really seeing anything in particular [causing the lower volume]."

A source in Canada said higher oil prices on Friday - and predictions of continuing higher prices - will fuel more offerings next week.

"It's possible," he said of more energy offerings in the coming week. "When oil's up there's always a few more."

Stocks ended the week on an upswing. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 77.16 to close at 10,959.31; the Nasdaq composite index closed up 28.75 at 2,305.62; and the Standard & Poor's 500 composite index settled up 11.97 to end at 1,285.45.

Protalex's $5.84 million deal

Moving to the biotech sector, Protalex, Inc. raised $5,839,047 in a private placement of 2,595,132 shares.

The shares were sold at $2.25 each and the investors received warrants for 648,784 shares, exercisable at $2.99 each through Dec. 30, 2010.

As of Oct. 14, the company had 19,433,221 outstanding common shares.

Griffin Securities, Inc. and Mufson, Howe, Hunter and Co., LLC were the placement agents for the deal.

"We believe the proceeds from this private placement, together with our current cash reserves, should provide the company with the anticipated required resources to reach the critical proof of concept milestones in idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura," said Steven Kane, the company's chief executive officer, in a statement.

As to the company's earnings, Protalex sustained a net loss of $1,156,585 for the quarter ended Aug. 31, 2005. For the quarter ended Aug. 31, 2004, the company reported a net loss of $1,003,987.

On Friday, the company's stock remained unchanged at $3.00.

Based in New Hope, Pa., Protalex is a biotechnology company focused on treatments for rheumatoid arthritis and autoimmune diseases.

Akesis to raise $4 million

Elsewhere in biotech, Akesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. closed the initial tranche of its planned $4 million private placement.

The company intends to sell 2 million shares at $2.00 each and issue a total of 1 million warrants.

As of Nov. 10, Akesis had 14,992,552 common shares outstanding.

So far, the company has issued 175,000 shares and 87,500 warrants. The warrants are exercisable at $3.00 each for three years. Akesis intends to sell the remaining 1,825,000 shares by Feb. 15.

"This financing allows Akesis to continue operating in the normal course of business while we actively seek additional capital to advance our promising portfolio of prospective treatment formulations for diabetes and other related metabolic disorders into clinical trials," said Edward Wilson, the company's chief executive officer, in a statement.

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2005, the company reported a net loss of $777,725. For the same quarter in 2004, the company reported a net loss of $375,149.

Based in LaJolla, Calif., Akesis is a biopharmaceutical company focused on treatments for diabetes and metabolic disorders.

Guyana Goldfields funding

Among Canadian issuers, Guyana Goldfields Inc. is in talks to complete a C$5,397,600 private placement with International Finance Corp., the private sector arm of the World Bank Group.

The International Finance Corp. plans to buy 1.73 million units at C$3.12 each. The units consist of one share and one warrant. The warrants allow for the purchase of another share at C$4.40 each for five years.

Guyana Goldfields, based in Toronto, is a gold exploration and development company focused on deposits in the Guiana Shield of South America.

MRU stock slips 1%

MRU Holdings, Inc.'s stock dipped slightly on Friday after announcing the imminent closing of a $25 million private placement.

The company's stock lost 5 cents, or 1.01%, to end at $4.90 Friday.

On Thursday, when the offering was first announced, the company's stock fell 3.88%.

MRU intends to sell series B convertible preferred shares to Battery Ventures VII, LP and Merrill Lynch Private Equity Partners. The preferreds are convertible at $3.80 each.

Based in New York, MRU is a finance company that provides loans to students for higher education.

North American Technologies stock jumps

For the second straight session, North American Technologies Group, Inc.'s stock climbed, including a 17.75% rise on Friday.

The company's stock gained 3 cents to end at $0.199 Friday after gaining 12.67% on Thursday when the company announced the completion of a $6.5 million PIPE.

On Thursday, the company's stock gained $0.019 to close at $0.169.

North American issued convertible debentures.

Based in Houston, North American makes railroad crossties.

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