Coda Octopus grabs $13.25 million from PIPE; Enterra prices two offerings totaling C$65.37 million

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, April 4 - Light primary activity in the PIPE market Wednesday was led by a $13.255 million offering of units from Coda Octopus Group, Inc.

Meanwhile, in the broader market, technology and biotech offerings seem to be at the forefront of the market, according to sellsiders.

"I'm anticipating more from the tech and biotech side," said one sellsider. "Tech stocks are really standing out in the market as a whole right now, so I'd expect to see more. We have seen a lot of tech offerings in the market this past week and I fully expect to see more."

Another market source agreed.

"That sounds about right," he added. "Biotech always makes up a pretty good portion of the market anyway so when their stocks are better, they tend to come out."

Energy stocks, however, may be losing some ground, particularly in Canada, according to one market source in Vancouver, B.C. "There's just a lot of data right now and that could be shoving stocks down."

On Wednesday, oil prices dipped after making substantial gains earlier in the week.

Oil closed down 26 cents Wednesday to settle at $64.38 per barrel.

The drop, however, did not stop energy company Enterra Energy Trust from pricing two substantial deals - a C$40 million offering of convertible debentures and a C$25.37 million offering of trust units.

Moving back to the Coda Octopus offering, the company secured agreements for $13.255 million in units.

The company agreed to sell 13.255 million units to a group of institutional and individual investors.

The units are comprised of one share and two warrants each for one half of a share. The whole of one of the warrants is exercisable at $1.30 each and the whole of the other at $1.70 each.

T.R. Winston & Co. is the placement agent.

Proceeds will be used for working capital and for the redemption of 18,181 units of Vision Capital's series B preferred stock for $110 each.

"We are pleased with the quality of institutional participation and view the placement as providing the company with the capital it needs to fully implement its business plans and to move as rapidly as possible to gain a listing for its stock on an appropriate national exchange," said Jason Reid, the company's chief executive officer, in a statement.

On Wednesday, the company's stock gained 6 cents, or 5.08%, to close at $1.24 (Pink Sheets: CDOC).

New York-based Coda Octopus is an underwater port security technology developer.

Enterra Energy's offerings

Moving back to the two deals priced by Enterra Wednesday, the company plans to sell C$40 million in principal of unsecured subordinated debentures.

The 8.25% debentures are due June 30, 2012 and are convertible into trust units at C$6.80 each.

The company also plans to sell 4.3 million trust units at C$5.90 each. The underwriters in the deal have a greenshoe for up to 645,000 additional trust units.

The offering is set to close April 25.

The stock fell 3.88%, or 24 cents, to close at C$5.94 (Toronto: ENT). Volume was also elevated with 300,047 shares traded, up from the average 60,775 shares.

Enterra, based in Calgary, Alta., is an oil and natural gas trust that acquires and operates petroleum and natural gas assets in Alberta and British Columbia.

Clearly Canadian raises $3.5 million

Elsewhere in the market, Clearly Canadian Beverage Corp. closed $3.499 million in private placements.

The company sold a total of 1,166,333 shares at $3.00 in a series of closings.

The investors in the non-brokered deal also received warrants for 333,334 shares, exercisable at $3.25 each for two years.

"This capital investment demonstrates the confidence our investors have in the company, its product lines and in the path we are taking," said Brent Lokash, Clearly Canadian's president, in a news release.

"These funds will augment our in house initiatives, with the purpose of creating, marketing and delivering our new and forthcoming lines of 'better for you' products. Additionally our $7.5 million in cash reserves will serve to greatly strengthen our ongoing efforts, as we continue to seek strategic acquisitions and open new distribution channels and opportunities for our expanding product offerings."

Proceeds will be used for marketing, creating and delivering upcoming product lines.

The company's stock gained 1.75%, or 5 cents, to settle at $2.90 on Wednesday (OTCBB: CCBEF).

Clearly Canadian last visited the PIPE market in March, closing a $5.1 million non-brokered offering of 1.7 million shares at $3.00 each. That investor group was led by James Dines, BG Capital Group Ltd. and a Canadian merchant bank.

At the time that deal closed, Clearly Canadian announced that it was in talks to acquire My Organic Baby, an organic food and beverage company.

Vancouver, B.C.-based Clearly Canadian is a beverage bottling company.

PolyMet stock climbs

In secondary market action, PolyMet Mining Corp.'s stock gained 6.5% on Wednesday, a day after the company announced the pending completion of a $41.25 million private placement.

The stock gained 22.09 cents to close at $3.6199 (Amex: PLM). On Tuesday when the deal was announced the stock climbed 10%, or 31 cents, to settle at $3.40.

Volume remained high on Wednesday with 672,600 shares traded compared with the average 166,576 shares.

In the offering, a group of investors has agreed to buy units of one share and one half-share warrant at $2.75 each.

Proceeds will be used for the procurement of timeslots for long lead time equipment and materials.

Vancouver, B.C.-based PolyMet is a mineral exploration company.

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