Guinor Gold wraps C$86.8 million private placement; Avanir plans $16.08 million deal

By Sheri Kasprzak

Atlanta, April 6 - Guinor Gold Corp. led private placement news Wednesday when it closed a C$86,794,098 offering of special warrants.

Guinor wasn't the only gold exploration company with news to report in the private placement arena Wednesday. Issuance among gold companies, according to sell-siders familiar with the sector, got a boost from stronger gold stocks.

Guinor said it sold 82,661,046 special warrants at C$1.05 each.

The special warrants are exchangeable for one common share on the conditions that a prospectus is cleared through Canadian securities regulatory authorities and final consents and approvals are obtained from the Indonesian government for the purchase of the Kelian carbon-in-leach gold plant by June 4.

If those conditions are not met by June 4, the investors have the option to retract a portion of their special warrants.

The offering was placed through a syndicate of underwriters led by BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc.

Based in London, Guinor is a gold exploration company. It plans to use the proceeds to expand its LEFA Corridor gold project in Guinea, West Africa.

The company's stock closed up C$0.01 at C$1.10 Wednesday.

Avanir plans $16.08 million deal

Moving away from natural resources and private placements, Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced its plans Wednesday to raise $16,083,900 in a direct placement.

The offering includes 7.77 million class A shares at $2.07 each.

The shares are being offered through Avanir's shelf registration.

CIBC World Markets Corp. is the bookrunner in the deal and Leerink Swann & Co. is co-placement agent.

Based in San Diego, Avanir is a pharmaceutical company focused on treatments of chronic illnesses.

On Wednesday, the company's stock closed down $0.07 at $2.40.

Avax wraps $8.6 million deal

Avax Technologies, Inc. closed an $8,582,766 private placement Wednesday.

The offering included 25,243,430 shares sold at $0.34 each.

The investors also received warrants for 3,786,515 shares at $0.41 each and warrants for 3,786,515 shares at $0.48 each.

"With the completion of this private placement, we have finalized the repositioning of Avax and are now able to accelerate our clinical and commercial development activities," said the company's president Richard Rainey, in a statement.

"We believe that the confidence demonstrated by these investors reflects positively on our potential to complete the important operating milestones we have laid out for Avax. In addition to the recently planned clinical programs in melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer, we will continue to develop the important commercial opportunities for the AC vaccine in Europe."

Based in Philadelphia, Avax is a biotechnology company engaged in the research, clinical and commercial development of biological products and cancer therapeutics.

The company's stock closed down $0.02 at $0.31.

Peoples BancTrust raises $5 million

The Peoples BancTrust Co. Inc. closed a private placement for $5 million and the company may receive another $20 million in funding from the same investor.

The bank holding company sold 287,209 shares at $17.40 each to Endurance Capital Investors, LP.

The closing was after the market closed Wednesday. Peoples stock gained $0.10, or 0.6%, close at $16.75.

"We are excited about the opportunity to have Endurance Capital as an investor and the confident they have expressed in Peoples through their purchase of stock," said Elam Holley, the company's president and chief executive officer, in a statement.

"The $5 million private placement increases Endurance Capital's ownership in Peoples to just under 10% of our total shares outstanding. Endurance Capital has considerable experience in investing in financial entities and assisting them in maximizing shareholder returns as they expand their services and geographic footprint. Our agreement with Endurance Capital includes provisions for possible additional funding at our option for up to $20 million for use in our acquisition program. The funding may be in the form of equity, debt or some combination thereof. We believe our relationship with Endurance Capital will be instrumental in expanding our contacts within the financial community as well as increasing our ability to take advantage of future opportunities."

Based in Selma, Ala., Peoples is a holding company for The Peoples Bank and Trust Co., a chain of banks located in Alabama.

DRC plans C$3 million offering

DRC Resources Corp. said it plans to head to the private placement market with a non-brokered C$3 million deal.

The offering includes 400,000 flow-through shares at C$7.50 each, a 21% premium to DRC's closing stock price on April 5.

"Gold was down earlier this week, but it was up yesterday and it's up again today," said one Canadian market source. "That's probably how they managed to price at such a high premium. Looks good to me."

After the offering was announced Wednesday morning, the company's stock closed up C$0.15, or 2.42%, at C$6.35.

"The proceeds from this financing will allow us to expand and accelerate our exploration efforts at our Afton and Ajax copper-gold properties," said DRC's president and chief executive officer Chris Bradbrook, in a statement.

"We want to ensure that we maximize shareholder value by aggressively exploring both of these properties for potential new zones of mineralization. This additional exploration work will complement the work being conducted from the underground exploration decline at the Afton copper-gold project which is forming the basis of our ongoing feasibility study there."

Based in Vancouver, B.C., DRC is a gold exploration and development company.

Eaglecrest's $2.8 million offering

Another gold exploration company, Eaglecrest Explorations Ltd., also announced its plans to raise $2,806,700 in a private placement.

The company plans to sell 28,067,000 units at $0.10 each.

The units include one share and one warrant. The warrants are exercisable at $0.10 each for two years.

"Same with this one," said a Canadian sell-sider. "Gold is up, it's priced a slight premium, not nearly as high as DRC's, but it still looks pretty good."

Based in Vancouver, B.C., Eaglecrest is a gold exploration company.

On Wednesday, Eaglecrest's stock closed down $0.002 at $0.093.

Raser's stock up again

After announcing a $20 million private placement on Monday, Raser Technologies, Inc.'s stock continued to rise Wednesday.

The company's stock gained $4.66, or 13.65%, at $38.81 Wednesday.

Raser's stock gained $1.20 to close at $34.15 Tuesday, but had dropped $0.45 to close at $32.95 on Monday.

The company plans to sell C preferred shares, convertible into common shares at $24 each.

"There's really nothing else I can point to except the PIPE they announced earlier this week," said one source who has been following the offering.

Based in Provo, Utah, Raser develops technologies for electric motors, controllers, alternators and generators.

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