Naturally Advanced, Elephant Talk get capital; egX could raise more; Jasper, Landis plan placements

By Kenneth Lim

Boston, July 8 - Naturally Advanced Technologies, Inc. raised $1.99 million to boost its working capital in a move essential to obtaining listing approval.

Elephant Talk Communications, Inc. negotiated a $7 million equity financing deal that it will use to help it pursue acquisitions.

egX Group Inc. said its latest C$1.32 million fundraiser provides important capital as it starts up its main business, and the company expects to raise even more in the coming months.

Jasper Mining Corp. is placing out C$2.6 million worth of units with MineralFields Group, and Landis Energy Corp. said it is raising about C$30 million through two stock sales.

Naturally Advanced gets $1.99 million

Naturally Advanced said it raised $1.99 million from a non-brokered private placement of units as part of its listing on the TSX Venture Exchange.

The company sold about 1.48 million units at $1.35 per unit. About 1.12 million of the units were placed by Canaccord Capital Corp., with the remaining 355,000 sold in a non-brokered tranche.

Each unit comprises one common share and one half-share warrant. Each whole warrant is exercisable at $1.95 until July 3, 2010.

Naturally Advanced common stock (OTCBB: NADVF) closed at $1.63 on Tuesday, up by 6.54%, or $0.10.

The proceeds will be used to fund development of the company's Crailar fiber technology, to repay debt and to fund general and administrative expenses.

Vancouver, B.C.-based Naturally Advanced develops environmentally friendly textile, composite, biomass and pulping solutions.

The company also said it received final approval to list its common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange. Its common shares began trading under the symbol "NAT" on the exchange at the opening of business on Tuesday.

"The TSX-V listing will provide NAT with access to additional capital markets that are receptive to high growth companies with unique technologies," Naturally Advanced chief executive Ken Barker said in a press release. "This significant milestone will allow the company to target its communications to a broader investor audience, while creating greater liquidity levels for the company's shareholders. With the closing of the private placement, the company continues to be in an excellent position to commercialize our Crailar technology."

"The initial strategy was for us to raise capital that would allow us to have a dual listing on the TSX Venture as well as the bulletin board," Barker told Prospect News. "But obviously dovetailed into that was to give us working capital for the development of our Crailar technology."

The company also had to raise its working capital in order to obtain listing approval on the TSX Venture Exchange, Barker said.

Except for Ironworks Capital Management of Chicago, all of the investors who took part in the deal were private, Barker said. He added that he was satisfied with where the deal priced.

"We were very satisfied with the pricing of the deal," he said. "We've been particularly prudent about underpromising and overperforming, so we were very happy with the price and we were happy with the placement."

The new capital should last for the next 18 months, he added.

"There will be additional capital required for the process build-up ... but we're talking to various partners in the meantime," Barker said.

Elephant Talk raises $7 million

Elephant Talk said it arranged a $7 million equity financing and has already received $3.3 million of that amount.

Proceeds will be used for expansion of Elephant Talk's proprietary global telecom network and infrastructure.

Based in Orange, Calif., Elephant Talk is a long-distance communications carrier.

"With this latest financing, we can now pursue our acquisitions program and continue to expand our global footprint," Elephant Talk chief executive Steven van der Velden said in a statement. "We will have a debt-equity ratio of 1 to 1.5 when the $7 million is fully paid and cash to sustain our growth strategy. We expect to move to profitability by the end of the fourth quarter 2008."

Van der Velden and Elephant Talk vice chairman Bruce Barren are holding investor meetings this week to discuss company developments and operational strategies for 2008.

egX could raise more

egX Group said its latest C$1.32 million placement provided important capital for its business, and the company could raise even more in the coming months.

egX sold about 8.8 million units of one common share and one non-transferable warrant at C$0.15 per unit. The deal priced on June 3 for C$1.5 million from 10 million units.

Each warrant will be exercisable at C$0.25 for one year.

egX common stock (TSX: GFG) slipped 2.78%, or C$0.005, to close at C$0.175 on Tuesday.

Proceeds will be used for the continuing deployment of egX Canada and for ongoing operations.

Based in Vancouver, B.C., the company is developing egX, a global securities exchange system designed for the listing and trading of real estate securities and related financial products.

"Establishing a marketplace is a very capital-intensive project," egX chief operating officer Doug McFaul told Prospect News. "I mean, how many securities markets are there in the U.S.?"

The company is planning to raise more capital over the next several months, McFaul said.

"It's not mandatory, but what we'd like to do is in the next seven to nine months raise another C$17 million to C$20 million," he said. "That will provide us about two years of capitalization. ... One of the things we want to do at the time of launch is show that we have enough capital and we're going to be around for some time."

Jasper places units

Jasper Mining said it is placing C$2.6 million of units with MineralFields Group.

The company will sell up to about 6.76 million flow-through units of one flow-through common share and one warrant at C$0.37 per unit for C$2.5 million.

Each whole two-year warrant will be exercisable for one common share at C$0.75 for one year and at C$1.00 thereafter.

Jasper also will sell 333,334 units of one common share and one warrant at C$0.30 per unit for C$100,000. Each whole two-year warrant will be exercisable for one common share at C$0.60 for one year and at C$0.75 thereafter.

Jasper common stock (TSX: JSP) closed at C$0.33 on Tuesday, lower by 9.59%, or C$0.035.

Based in Calgary, Alta., Jasper is a mineral exploration company.

"We are very pleased to be renewing our relationship with MineralFields Group," Jasper chairman Gordon Dixon said in a statement. "This is an important milestone in the growth of Jasper Mining Corporation and we look forward to working with MineralFields Group as we develop our properties in B.C."

Landis to raise C$30 million

Landis Energy plans to raise C$24 million through a brokered stock placement and a further C$6 million through a non-brokered deal.

The company will sell up to 26.7 million common shares in the brokered deal. The non-brokered deal will have the same terms as the brokered offering, and the two placements will settle simultaneously on Aug. 6.

Landis common stock (TSX: LIS) closed unchanged at C$1.08 on Tuesday.

Proceeds will be used to fund the development of the Alton Natural Gas Storage project and for general corporate purposes.

Landis, based in Calgary, Alta., is an oil and natural gas exploration company. It was formerly known as Landis Mining Corp.

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