Rocket City stock dives after $5.2 million stock sale; American Metal raises $3.27 million

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, Aug. 10 - Rocket City Enterprises, Inc.'s stock took a slide on news that the company sealed a $5.2 million stock deal.

The company's stock gave up 42.81%, or 68.5 cents, to close at $0.915 on Friday (Pink Sheets: RCTY).

The shares were purchased by a group of institutional and sophisticated investors that includes Julius Baer Asset Management, Anima Funds and Banque Jacob Safra. The full terms of the deal were unavailable by press time Friday.

Continental Advisors SA was the placement agent.

"I am pleased to report that our stock offering was well-received and significantly oversubscribed," said Jeff Roman, the company's chief executive officer, in a statement.

"We are truly honored that so many institutional investors have elected to become shareholders in our company. To have the confidence of the institutional investment community at this stage of our development is perhaps one of the greatest complements that we could receive. This capital infusion will enable us to implement new business initiatives that we have been working on, all of which will enable us to gain market share throughout the automobile industry and beyond."

Proceeds, Roman said in the statement, will allow the company to expand its sales force, increase its market presence and continue the improvement of its product and shareholder value.

Based in Orlando, Fla., Rocket City acquires, manages, supervises and operates corporations in the auction services sector.

Meanwhile, PIPE volume almost ground to a halt as stocks struggled to make a comeback amid continued strife in the mortgage lending sector.

"The stock market is kind of messy right now," said one sellside market source on Friday afternoon. "Issuers could possibly be holding off for a while to see what the [broad stock] market is going to do."

After slipping more than 100 points on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed its way back up to lose just 31.14 to close at 13,239.54. The Nasdaq composite index fell by 11.60 to settle at 2,544.89 while the Standard & Poor's 500 composite index edged up by 0.55 to close at 1,453.64.

American Metal's deal

Moving elsewhere in the market, American Metal & Technology, Inc. concluded a $3,276,507 offering of shares, selling 163,825,350 shares at $0.02 each.

After news of the offering was released Friday morning, the stock began sliding, losing 12.5%, or half a penny, early in the session. The stock remained down 12.5% to close at $0.035 (OTCBB: AMMY).

Proceeds will be used for enhanced marketing efforts to support the attraction of foreign customers and the expansion of its production capacity.

"We are pleased to have the opportunity to grow our business with our new shareholders," said Chen Gao, the company's CEO, in a statement.

Los Angeles-based American Metal is a holding company for subsidiaries that manufacture high-precision casting and machined products in the People's Republic of China.

Oriental Minerals raises C$9.62 million

Moving to the Canadian PIPEs market, Oriental Minerals Inc. sealed the final tranche of a non-brokered private placement for C$9,624,549.

The company sold, in the most recent tranche, 1.515 million units of one share and one warrant at C$1.55 each.

Oriental issued a total of 6,209,387 shares in the placement.

Proceeds will be used for planned acquisitions, work on projects in South Korea and working capital.

On Friday, the stock gained 3 cents to close at C$1.34 (TSX Venture: OTL).

In January, Oriental Minerals sold $8,429,568 in units, selling 6,585,600 units at C$1.28 each.

The units included one share and one half-share warrant. The whole warrants are exercisable at C$1.60.

Vancouver, B.C.-based Oriental Minerals is a mineral exploration company focused on tungsten-molybdenum, base metals and gold-silver properties in South Korea.

First BanCorp stock up

In secondary market action, First BanCorp's stock climbed 5.75% a day after the company sealed a $94,812,500 PIPE deal with Scotiabank.

The deal pushed Scotiabank's holdings in First BanCorp to 10%.

On Friday, the company's stock gained 51 cents to close at $9.38 (Nasdaq: FBP). The stock ended down 11 cents to end at $8.87 Thursday when the placement closed.

Scotiabank agreed to buy shares at $10.25 each.

The deal is expected to close in 15 to 20 days.

UBS Investment Bank was the placement agent.

First BanCorp, based in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is a state-chartered commercial bank operating in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Florida.

Faro gains 4.25%

Elsewhere in secondary market news, Faro Technologies, Inc. saw its stock climb by 4.25% on Friday after concluded a $56.1 million registered direct placement of shares.

The company plans to sell shares at $34.00 apiece.

The stock responded by gaining $1.50 to close at $36.76 but lost 89 cents in after-hours trading (Nasdaq: FARO). On Thursday, the stock lost 5.19%, or $1.93, to close at $35.26 and lost another 28 cents in after-hours trading.

The shares will be sold under the company's shelf registration.

Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. is the bookrunner for the deal, which is expected to wrap up on Tuesday.

Proceeds will be used for the acquisition of businesses or technologies as well as for working capital and general corporate purposes.

Based in Lake Mary, Fla., Faro develops software-based, three-dimensional measurement devices used in construction and forensic applications.

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